Review: Where Fortune Lies

Title: Where Fortune Lies

Author: Mary-Anne O'Connor

Publisher: 23rd March 2020 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

An epic and lyrical tale of love, adventure and gambled fortunes that ranges from the wild cloaked woodlands of Ireland to the Victorian Alps of colonial Australia from a bestselling Australian author. For fans of Nicole Alexander, Colleen McCullough, and Fiona McIntosh.

1879: 'Invisible' Anne Brown fears she'll never escape the harshness and poverty of her life in County Donegal, Ireland. Until, one heartbreaking Beltane night, her life is changed forever and she leaves to seek her fortune in far-flung Australia.

Upon the death of their father, charismatic Will Worthington and his beloved sister Mari are stunned to find he has left all their money and a ticket to the far shores of Australia to an enigmatic painted woman. It seems their only hope for a brighter future also lies in Australia, where together with Will's best friend, the artist Charlie Turner, they seek their fortunes.

Charlie finds love with a mysterious exotic dancer, yet there is trouble on the horizon. His new friends up in the Victorian Alps might be teaching him to run with the wild horses and find his talent with a brush at last, but life in a bushranger gang is a dangerous game.

As Charlie struggles to break free from his fate, all four are left with impossible choices as fortunes waver between life and death, loyalty and the heart.

My Thoughts

‘Will had disclosed his ambitions to Charlie over many ocean-watching pipe sessions such as this. It really came down to needing one thing and one thing only: a change in fortune.’

Mary-Ann O’Connor has again woven an amazing story about life in early colonial Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed her book, ‘In a Great Southern Land’ (review HERE) and looked forward to being whisked away to bygone days once more in her most recent tale. Filled with many colourful characters, great adventures and locations to lose yourself in, Mary-Ann is to be commended. 

Firstly, this is a great tale with lots of fun characters. If you ever wanted a window into the classic Aussie colonial, this is your book. Mary-Ann creates characters that work together well, there is real depth to their traits. I liked these characters and enjoyed their various journeys. Mary-Ann also does an excellent job of capturing the divide in the wealth status and represents the whole bushranger episode from an interesting perspective. The incorporation of political themes of the day, especially the courtroom drama was likewise engaging and thought provoking. 

‘... there was an abundance of green on that horizon, and flashes of gold on her shores too. Plenty of scope for manifesting good fortune in this land where their futures now lay.’

The imagery is rich as the Victorian High Country comes to life on these pages. The scenic descriptions are superb.  The story, whilst good, gets just a little far fetched for me at times - a few too many coincidences, convenient encounters and tidying up of tricky situations. I l did, however, love the feature of Australian art, particularly ‘Tom’ from the Heidelberg School of painters. That combined with the scenic imagery is well done. 

If an escape to the High Country of last century sounds inviting then take a trip in this action packed drama that is vibrant, fun and full of engaging characters. This is an enjoyable read with good research as once again Mary-Ann presents another quality Australia colonial story. 

‘...it was time to play a part once more, the performance of a lifetime, and find out whether this would all end in love or tragedy. Whether she’d reclaim her fortune, or end up fortune’s fool.’

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.