Wings Above the Mallee by Leonie Kelsall is a heart warming yet sad story of loss, grief, love and finding a way forward. It is set in a small rural town in South Australia, Settlers Bridge.
To Amelia Fraser, flying was freedom and travelling light meant no memories. By choice, she has spent the past three years on the move with a reluctance to allow anyone to get to know her. Caring for Dusty her rescued, and Biggles the possum is her passion.
Amelia has taken a temp job with a solicitor in Settlers Bridge. The plan is to be there for only a few weeks. Dr Taylor Hartman, her friend has organised a hanger for her plane at the Brennan family farm, a few kilometres out from town.
On arrival, Amelia meets Sean Brennan, a likeable Irish sheep farmer, and his son Heath. Heath is uncommunicative and surly. On first impression, he is one of the most annoying people she has ever met.
Amelia hears a plaintive noise, and on investigation, it is a newborn motherless lamb. Reluctantly, Heath allows Amelia to take it and add it to her small collection of rescue animals.
Heath’s first impression of Amelia is rather poor as well.
Unbeknownst to Amelia, Heath is a widower struggling to deal with the death of his wife. His 19 year old daughter is a resentful teenager who is struggling to deal with the death of her mother. Sean also has his own demons. The troubled family has bought this farm and moved to Settlers Bridge for a new start.
In a small community, it is hard not to cross paths. Amelia and Charlee form a connection through the rescued animals.
The chapters alternate between Amelia and Heath. And, slowly, the grief, guilt, and trauma that many of the key characters have suffered are shared with the reader.
But, will Amelia and Heath ever share their stories with each other and forgive themselves enough to take a second chance at love?
This read is quite suspenseful as to what the outcome will be. As these likable characters share their stories some unbelievably hard choices are made. The small town feel with the committees, the gossip, the matchmaking and friendships adds authenticity to it all. South Australia is beautifully portrayed.
Leonie has drawn on her role as a professional counsellor to deal with the many social topics arising, death, grief, guilt, addiction, troubled family relationships, and recovering from trauma in a sensitive way. She shares many words of wisdom.
Wings Above the Mallee is a wonderful read, one you can’t put down from beginning to end.
Leonie Kelsall has written many other equally engaging books, all set in rural settings. Her writing style makes the characters come alive. She is an author you should explore!
Five stars.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Wings Above the Mallee by Leonie Kelsall. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
I absolutely love rural romance novels and this one is right at the top for me. I really had a bit of a giggle at the beginning of the book where there is a paragraph on Rainbow Fly Strips. I think that is when I thought, wow, my thoughts exactly on those fly strips.
The storyline mostly is about 3 main country characters of Amelia, Heath & Charlee and how their lives will entwine with each other. There will be tears, laughter but the storyline is easy to follow once you learn about each character.
Amelia is a bush pilot who loved the country life and due to some circumstances had to move to Settlers Bridge. She is suffering from a huge heartache of losing someone she absolutely loved. She refuses to let anybody enter her life, she just wants to be on her own. Doesn’t want to get close to anybody again as tragedy happens that you can’t control.
Heath has also had tragedy in that the love of his life, his wife died in an accident. He also can never move on after losing Sophie his wife. His daughter nineteen year old Charlee has her own trauma on losing her mum and finds solace in drugs.
Both Amelia and Heath have the guilt of tragic events on their hearts.
There are other characters in the story and each one is just as lovely as the others.
Amelia has a love of animals and rescues them. Dusty, Biggles and two beautiful ones at that. Dusty is a magpie that she rescued and a lot of storylines centres around the lovable magpie. It’s not hard to fall in love with Dusty’s antics.
Amelia, Heath & Charlee need to be healed from their losses and this storyline will keep you turning the pages to find out how they all come together.
The cover depicts the story and yes, there is Dusty on the front.
There is heartbreak, laughter and love within this story. It will capture your attention.
Thank you to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin for sending me this book to read. Thank you to Leonie Kelsall for another outstanding rural romance book.
Leonie Kelsall has done it again with her book “Wings above the Mallee”
I have read several of Leonie’s previous books and was thrilled to see that a sample from a review I wrote for one of her previous books was quoted in the front of Wings above the Mallee. I stand by what I said in that review ….
“I really love Leonie’s writing and was delighted to reacquaint myself with characters from previous books. Leonie has a way of writing that makes you feel as if you are a part of the town and the characters are people you know and care about”
Her stories are set in the town of Settlers Bridge and if you have read any of her previous books you will find that as people in the town are mentioned you will know just who they are talking about and you will know their back story so it makes you feel as if you are a part of this town. You don’t have to read previous books to be able to read this one and you can read any of her books in any order without a concern.
In Wings above the Mallee Amelia Fraser arrives in Settlers Bridge but is determined not to stay too long because becoming attached to people and places in no longer something she wants to entertain.
Heath also has his battles and one of them is his daughter who seems to prefer the oblivion of drugs then to deal with her Dad, the guilt and the grief that they both must face.
Wings above the Mallee shows us that everyone handles grief and their own guilt in different ways but no matter what they all need caring and someone to share those emotions and love with.
Wings Above the Mallee by Leonie Kelsall is an unputdownable read. With relatable characters, and a writing style that has you sitting in the Regional Action Group meeting or the café alongside the locals. Fans of Leonie’s previous books will slide right back in to life in Settlers Ridge, while new readers will find new friends in the town.
Amelia is running from her tragedy, while Heath is not only dealing with his guilt and anger, he is dealing with his teenaged daughter Charlee’s grief, anger and addiction too. Add his father Sean, a recovering alcoholic into the mix and it is no wonder Heath prefers to not to socialise. Can Amelia and Heath heal enough to find happiness again? Do they feel they deserve to?
The themes of loss, grief and addiction could make this a rather sad read. Instead, it is an uplifting story of courage and hope as Amelia, Heath and Charlee grapple with their emotions and come out the other side not cured but better.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace, Leonie Kelsall and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read and review this great read.
Bestselling rural romance author Leonie Kelsall has delivered yet again another must read and truly memorable story that will continue to resonate with readers long after they’ve finished.
We are introduced to bush pilot Amelia Fraser who has devastatingly lost everything she held dear yet manages to hold on to her compassion. Running from unimaginable tragedy she finds herself in Settlers Ridge thinking she’ll never let anyone get close to her ever again.
Having channeled his unrelenting grief and anger widower Heath Brennan is reclusive after the death of his wife and despairing over his 19-year-old daughter Charlee who is also battling her own demons.
Amelia and Heath meet and become a constant in each other’s lives. Can they heal from their pasts and find happiness together?
Despite the very strong elements of grief and loss I found that the courage and hope each character showed and held onto with both hands made this a warm and truly uplifting read.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace book club, Allen and Unwin publishing for my copy of Wings Above the Mallee and the truly talented Leonie Kelsall for writing such an amazing book.
Wings Above the Mallee
By Leonie Kelsall.
Leonie Kelsalls writing is captivating from start to finish.
Another great story transport ing us to out back Australia.
The story is about Amelia Fraser a bush female pilot who was raised on cattle country .
Amelia did her mustering on horseback doing all the dirty work putting up with the heat and flies she hoped one day to take over the station.
She was forced away from the outback and finds herself in the town Settlers Bridge but she had not intended to stay long but this all changes when she meets Heath .
Heath is also dealing with his own grief and issues he try’s to keep it to himself .
Amelia meets Heath and things start to look up until Heaths 19 year old daughter Charlee comes in the midst with her anger problems and lost with grief .
Will Amelia and Heath find true love or will it spiral the other way with Charlee .
Overall Wings Above the Mallee is a beautifully written story it will resonate with anyone who loves a good outback story with love ,turbulence, grief, anger , and loss .
I highly recommend this book it will capture you from the start to finish
Thankyou beauty and lace for the chance to read this book.
Thanks Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read Leonie Kelsall’s latest book Wings Above The Mallee – once again Leonie takes us back to Settler’s Bridge – this is a stand alone book but we also revisit past characters of the small rural town in South Australia.
Amelia and Heath are both fairly new arrivals to Settler’s Bridge along with Heath’s father Sean and his teenage daughter Charlee – they all have their problems and are all dealing with grief and addiction which they eventually overcome.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.
Wings Above the Mallee by Léonie Kelsall is a sweet story of love, loss and livestock. It sees a return to Settlers Bridge and it was great to read old characters and new.
The story centres around four main characters, all with their own struggles and grief, and as the story progressed, it was nice to see the healing taking place.
I was a big fan of the mini menagerie of rescues, loved and cared for by Amelia. Their personalities shone through and helped with healing all the central characters.
While loss was a central theme of the story, at times it felt like it overwhelmed the whole story, making it hard to focus on the relationships being built.
I would have liked more focus on the budding romance, hopefully more will be revealed in the next story set in Settlers Bridge. I guess I’ll have to wait and read.