Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman

Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman
Buy Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Susmita Chatto
Summary: 1901: Isabella is shipwrecked and alone off the coast off Australia. 2011: Libby's life has fallen apart and she comes home to the Australian coast to see if she can rebuild her life. And the connections between the two women, more than a century apart, are about to be uncovered...
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 478	Date: November 2013
Publisher: Quercus
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1780877266
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Having loved Wildlflower Hill, I was really looking forward to reading Kimberley Freeman’s newest work. A story split over different time periods, featuring the story of a family who made their fortune in jewellery sounded appealing on several levels.

It starts off well, with the modern age being the launch point. Libby moves from Paris back home to Australia after suffering a bereavement which she has to keep secret. But it soon becomes clear that she has left Australia because of another burdensome secret – so is she just escaping one trouble spot for another? And what is her connection to Isabella, who found herself in the same part Australia, following a shipwreck, more than a hundred years ago?

I have read a good many novels based on past and present scenarios; due to my enjoyment of historical novels in particular, I often find the sections relating to the past to be more interesting. However, in this book, my preference was reversed. Although the seeds of this novel are planted in the story of 1901, the characters were not developed fully enough for me to really engage. The protagonist, Isabella, suffers particularly from this problem. Isabella has been through a lot of trauma, but we are never really shown what she was like before, or given much hint as to her real nature. Because of that, I felt that a string of things were happening to a one-dimensional character I didn’t really know; with her arrival in Australia and the further development of her life, we were given no more insight into her a person so it all fell rather flat. Additionally, I found the use of the present tense in those sections annoying; I felt as if Freeman was trying to give the novel some urgency which didn't suit the story.

Across the novel as a whole, there are many signposts saying something dramatic is about to happen and when an author writes a big build up, the pay off has to be worthy of that introduction. Nothing in this novel warranted that level of anticipation. By the middle of the novel, I found myself wondering when something really meaty was going to happen; not because I need a novel to be full of action but because Freeman kept hinting that something major would occur. When I ultimately found out why Libby was worried about returning to Australia, it had been built up so much, I was expecting expect something more …well, something more. The event which drove her away was worthy of a gentler exploration of the effect on her and her family rather than the suspenseful build-up.

There is some excellent writing in this novel and Freeman’s talent for description is clear. However, too much time has been devoted to that at the expense of character depth. In some ways, the format of Wildflower Hill has been followed, but with less success. It is an easy read but not a compelling one.

Why not try Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman?

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