Windflowers [Hardcover]

Tamara McKinley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

Her sister may want nothing more than to raise kids and cattle but Claire can't wait to escape the harshness of ranching life for college and a career in the big city. And Sydney in the 60s seems a lot more vibrant and exciting than Warratah Cattle station in the wilds of Queensland. Only, just as Claire is about to take up a position at a prestigious veterinary practice, her Great Aunt Aurelia throws a spanner in the works by summoning her home. Claire isn't looking forward to the family reunion, or to having to make her peace with her indomitable mother, Ellie. But coming from a long line of Warratah women famed for their grit and substance, Claire knows better than to shy away from a fight. Ellie herself realises that a reconciliation with her eldest daughter is long overdue. But to do that she will have to face her own ghosts and reveal some of of Warratah's more shameful past. She only hopes that Claire is strong enough to survive the coming storm...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Claire Pearson is a successful veterinarian in Sydney, Australia, who is called to her family's outback homestead to resolve old family conflicts in this multigenerational drama by McKinley (Jacaranda Vines). Claire has been estranged from her relatives for five years. As her visit unfolds, it becomes clear that she fled to Sydney after a fight with her parents over a mysterious gravestone on the family property. McKinley weaves Claire's story with that of her mother, Ellie, who was abandoned by her mother as a little girl and witnessed her father's death in an outback storm as a young teen; Claire's fiery sister, Leanne, who has always been envious of Claire's looks and easy successes; and Aurelia, the wise old aunt who watches over the family and knows all of its tangled secrets, which she slowly relinquishes as Claire asks more questions about her true parentage. In spite of the melodramatic revelations, the most interesting character here is the Australian landscape itself, the dry, dusty stretches of land dotted with cattle stations every 200 miles, where locals birth horses with their bare hands and everyone knows everyone else. McKinley's human characters are far less captivating, their stories patched together confusingly as the book switches between Ellie's past and Claire's present without adequate transitions or cues. These convolutions, along with thinly drawn characters and predictable revelations, make this an unremarkable effort.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Novels of family secrets are often overwrought, but McKinley's novel of Australia is rarely over the top. Instead her characters are restrained and controlled. This is due, in part, to the fact that the story is told in a long series of flashbacks by Ellie Freeman and her aunt Aurelia, and partly to the fact that the family secret isn't revealed until the novel's conclusion. But all that pales in comparison to McKinley's passion for the land, which dominates both the characters and the reader with its great heat and vastness, and McKinley's descriptions of the exhausting labor necessary to survive as a rancher. Ellie's saga begins in 1936 and continues through World War II on to 1970. In between flashbacks, the reader dwells with Ellie's two daughters. Claire, the most affected by the family secret, has left home for Sydney as a result of a family breach, and Leanne has secret plans of her own. Ultimately, McKinley's two-tiered tale is a story of love for people, land, and country. Neal Wyatt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074990593X
• ISBN-13: 978-0749905934
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Windflowers, June 29, 2004

By 

Doris Herndon Juul "koolmom2" (Pensacola, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windflowers: A Novel of Australia (Hardcover)

It's rare that I read a book I simply cannot put down. For someone who is not familiar with the Australian jargon, some words may need defining. The characters are placed against a vividly described Australian Outback. The story centers around two women--an aunt and her niece who are challenged by the land, its people and world war. It is written in first person with flashbacks intertwined to relay the family history. I was enthralled from the first page.

3.0 out of 5 stars A great read, May 15, 2003

By 

Edward Hobden (Cornwall,United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windflowers: A Novel of Australia (Hardcover)

Unlike the anonymous reviewer who was disenchanted by 'Windflowers', I found the book fascinating and powerful.
The descriptions of the outback were as brilliant as I have come to expect from Tamara McKinley - the land is just as I remember it from my travels. The characters were sympathetically drawn and contained just the right balance of pathos, strengh and humour. I applaud the way the story is switched from one persons point of view to another as it asks the reader to get involved with them and share their thoughts. I could not put the book down and can quite understand why it was an immediate best seller in Germany.