Bella Vista [Paperback]

Catherine Jinks (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Australia (July 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141001348
• ISBN-13: 978-0141001340
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

CATHERINE JINKS was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1963. She grew up in Papua New Guinea and later spent four years studying medieval history at the University of Sydney. After working for several years in a bank, she married a Canadian journalist and lived for a short time in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is now a full-time writer, residing in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales with her husband Peter and their daughter Hannah.Catherine is a three-time winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award, and has also won a Victorian Premier's Literature Award, the Ena Noel Award for Children's Literature, and an Aurealis Award for Science Fiction. In 2001 she was presented with a Centenary Medal for her contribution to Australian Children's Literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Not a Wickedly Funny Tale of Bed, Breakfast and Bedlam, December 24, 2005

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bella Vista (Paperback)

For some reason Amazon only sells the average Jinks novels and doesn't stock the good ones. Maybe there are so many which never sold in surplus or something and they got a good price from the publishers to get rid of them or something. Bella Vista is one of those average novels. Set in the Blue Mountains immediately adjacent to the western suburbs of Sydney inside a guesthouse we find the stuck up Avril who is unaware the 21st century is upon her and likes to criticise everyone else who is not living amongst the pasts values like she is. He husband Steven of course understandably tries to spend as little time around her as possible and his latest hobby is a seat on the local council. When Avril finds out Steven is taking up an opportunity to run for mayor she forbids it, and Steven who has had enough of her runs for the position anyway.

Jinks novels vary dramatically in quality. Nothing noteworthy happens in this novel. The cover promises a wickedly funny tale of bed, breakfast and bedlam but doesn't deliver even one chuckle, yet alone a laugh. Great Jinks novels worth your time and money are Evil Genius and Witch Bank. As of the date of this review though you will not find these on Amazon so will need to look elsewhere.