Review: The Lost Summers of Driftwood

Title: The Lost Summers of Driftwood

Author: Vanessa McCausland

Publisher: 16th December 2019 by HarperCollins AU

Pages: 352 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: family, mystery, contemporary

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Is it more dangerous to forget ... or to remember? A compelling drama about broken dreams, first love and the mystery of a lost sister, for all fans of Hannah Richell and Kate Morton. She remembered this part of the trip during the day time. Her sisters on either side in the back. The sunlight flickering through branches was like looking through a kaleidoscope. How could that be so long ago? How could so much have gone wrong?

Phoebe's life has fallen apart and there's only one place left to go. Alone and adrift after a failed marriage proposal, she flees Sydney to her family's abandoned holiday cottage.

On the slow-moving river Phoebe is confronted with the legacy of her older sister's suicide, a year before. Why did Karin leave a note written in flowers and walk into the water?

Phoebe's childhood love, Jez, has moved back to the beautiful old house, Driftwood, one jetty down. He's married now and the home has become a refuge for an unlikely little community.

As the river begins to give up its secrets, Phoebe finds herself caught up in old feelings and new mysteries.

The Lost Summers of Driftwood is a story of lost loves, rekindled passions, tragedy and betrayal set against the backdrop of an idyllic south coast town.

My Thoughts

The Lost Summers of Driftwood not only has a beautiful cover but a fabulous story to go with it. Whilst recalling a family tragedy, this is also a story about friendships and first loves. This is a tale that will slowly draw you in and keep you coming back until the last page is turned. Told against the backdrop of an idyllic setting, a mystery is on offer here that needs to be resolved.

One of the highlights for me was the beautiful setting with Vanessa seeming to make the landscape a character within itself. Her writing makes the sun warm our skin and the water cool our souls. Set in a picturesque Australian bush setting, Vanessa brings to life the bay and its river. Living in Australia, I found her passages surrounding the bushfire to be so authentic that it was as if the reader could smell smoke and ash in the air. 

‘Feeling those fires so close, you start to think about what matters. What you’d leave behind, what you would save, no matter what. And it brings everything into focus. Why live life being so fucking unhappy?  Trying and failing so hard. Maybe this thing ... this meeting of minds, or hearts, whatever it is we have, maybe it’s that simple.’

I had no preconceptions regarding the plot and found myself fully engaged on a number of levels. I enjoyed the characters and their journeys - either individually or in some cases as a family. The tragedy is haunting and well written with just enough flashbacks to hook you in and think ‘what would I do?’ The relationships are real and relatable. The mystery is not predictable until the very end but by then the fallout is more impactful as this is not a one dimensional story. For a debut novel, this is really quite extraordinary.

I look forward to seeing what Vanessa will come up with next. If you enjoy a well told story with the perfect combination of mystery, reflection, location and atmosphere then I highly recommend this read. There is much to love here and I enjoyed all the aspects on offer.

‘Phoebe cringed at the thought of her last status update - a pair of cocktails sweating lazily against the setting sun. A post that was meant to convey the dreamy perfection of their lives in a single image. The sound of Nathaniel’s exasperation came back to her as she arranged the glasses just so for the picture. Of course, she hadn’t read it as contempt. She hadn’t read it for what it was: her arranging their lives, as though happiness would be inferred by the tilt of a straw.’

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