Fiona Lowe

Australian storyteller extraordinaire Fiona Lowe brings us another gripping contemporary fiction. Set in the fictional town of Glingilly in the south-west of Victoria this story brings us love, heartbreak and betrayal and the devastating effects of being caught up in a huge financial scam.

The story follows four couples, all closely connected. The glamorous Izzy Harrington is married to business entrepreneur Brad Quin, but finding herself undervalued, disheartened and ready to leave. Suddenly her world falls apart when the police knock on her door looking for the missing Brad and the millions of dollars he has allegedly swindled from their friends and neighbours in a Ponzi scheme. His parents Bevan and Judy are away on a health retreat and suddenly the neighbours and media are all baying for Izzy’s blood.

Mike and Birdie Essen have been carefully saving up for their retirement dream of caravanning around Australia as “Grey Nomads” and are devastated to have lost their savings in Brad’s company. Their son Jack and daughter-in-law Lucy have also lost their dream of owning their own home and not having to be apart due to FIFO work. The story follows the couples all looking for answers and trying to solve the quandary they have suddenly found themselves in.

Despite the fact I have no interest in anything to do with money and business I found myself gripped by the story. Fiona has great insight into human interactions and relationship dynamics. Although ultimately many of seemingly deeply entrenched problems seemed to dissolve rather readily with a good long heart-to-heart chat. A good read. I am always keen to read whatever this author comes out with next.… (plus d'informations)

Decent but that's about it. It was pretty bland all in all. I think that it lacked any real tension. It was too long for the amount of story that there actually was to tell. The relationship was fairly calm and everyone was just so nice. I actually enjoyed the small side story of his sister who had breast cancer and her cop boyfriend a bit better than the main story. I just had a hard time caring about the characters. I got a bit tired of everyone remarking all the time on differences between the Australian way of doing something and the American way. It seemed forced and a little bit like a lesson.

I received this free from netGalley for review.… (plus d'informations)