Review: Daughter of Mine

Title: Daughter of Mine

Author: Fiona Lowe

Publisher: 20 February 2017 by Harlequin Australia - MIRA

Pages: 512 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: women’s fiction, contemporary

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

When your world falls apart the only person you can depend on is your sister.

The three Chirnwell sisters are descended from the privileged squattocracy in Victoria’s Western District — but could a long-held secret threaten their family?

Harriett Chirnwell has a perfect life — a husband who loves her, a successful career and a daughter who is destined to become a doctor just like her.

Xara has always lived in Harriet’s shadow; her chaotic life with her family on their sheep farm falls far short of her older sister’s standards of perfection and prestige.

Georgie, the youngest sister and a passionate teacher, is the only one of the three to have left Billawarre. But is her life in Melbourne happy?

Despite all three sisters having a different and sometimes strained bond with their mother, Edwina, they come together to organise a party for her milestone birthday — the first since their father’s death. But when Edwina arrives at her party on the arm of another man, the tumult is like a dam finally breaking. Suddenly the lives of the Chirnwell sisters are flooded by scandal. Criminal accusations, a daughter in crisis, and a secret over fifty years in the making start to crack the perfect façade of the prominent pastoral family.

A thought provoking novel about family expectations, secrets and lies.

My Thoughts

‘I really don’t think anyone in my family is okay today .... I paid a high price for secrets and lies and I’m paying it still.’

With an easy going writing style and an engaging story, ‘Daughter of Mine’ proved to be a most enjoyable novel. Here you will find past and recent complicated family secrets and lies, loves come and go and a range of emotions from the young through to serious mental issues are covered. What I truly embraced with this book was the realistic and authentic dialogue, not only between family, but also those extending beyond that.

‘Ask me. I’m an open book. I’ve lived with the damaging effects of secrets all of my life. I don’t want any to exist between you and me or between me and your sisters.’

Here Lowe will provide you with an array of characters that face obstacles and heartache and there is sure to be at least one character that you unwittingly nod your head at, either in agreement or frustration. Still, it goes to demonstrate how well Lowe captures a range of relatable characteristics and how everybody can deal differently with a conflict or family problem. I appreciate the detail and time Lowe invested in each of the main characters so that you could try to appreciate how it looked coming from their side of things.

‘Confident he wasn’t going to ask, she’d let down her guard. Now, all snuggled up in her cocoon of bliss and totally unprepared, the question hit her like a sniper’s bullet. It tore through her, ripping, burning, brutal.’

Set in a small town it all comes across as very believable and you will find yourself cheering for some and hoping that fate delivers its blow to others. For a longer book, it moves at a good pace and I was readily engaged throughout, eagerly turning the pages. I can genuinely recommend this as a good family drama/saga.

‘Life isn’t perfect. God, I worked that out years ago. It’s messy and complicated and disorganised. People do things that hurt you. People disappoint you and let you down. Family lets you down and that one hurts the most.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release