Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
Readers of books by Australian author Léonie Kelsall will already be familiar with the fictional town of Settlers Bridge and the businesses Ploughs and Pies and Tractors and Tarts. What they may not know is that her latest book, The Homestead in the Eucalypts, was in fact the first book set in this district. It just took a while to get to the publishing stage. Readers may also have met the local doctor, Taylor Hartmann, in other books. The Homestead in the Eucalypts is the origin story of how the doctor came to be in Settlers Bridge providing a well needed service.
Léonie Kelsall is well known for her rural romance, women’s fiction and romantic suspense. However, I believe this is the first time she has incorporated a dual time story set in different centuries in one of her books.
She begins this story in 2008 with a young medical student whose life in Sydney appears to be falling apart so she goes to her grandparent’s place near Settlers Bridge with her mother to try to sort out what she should do with her life. This young woman is Taylor Lawrence. In the scene where she and her mother are camping, with primitive conditions and without a phone connection, the author has clearly described young people in the 21st century who have never experienced life outside a big city with all its modern conveniences.
Taylor has been given a necklet which she wears all the time, but it appears to be having a strange effect on her. She begins dreaming of another young woman, Anna, from 1877, also living in South Australia. Anna’s love story with Luke Hartmann soon invades more and more of Taylor’s life and she becomes emotionally conscious of all their feelings to the stage that she imagines herself falling in love with this Luke. At times she feels more attuned to this life than her present one.
Then she meets a 21st Century Luke Hartmann.
This story foregrounds the hardships encountered by the early Lutheran settlers in South Australia and at the same time celebrates the beauty of Australia’s landscape and its flora and fauna.
There are some very raw, emotional aspects in this book, yet the love stories dominate, especially the 19th Century one. Throughout the story it is lovely to see the change in Taylor as she adapts to a slower pace of life and reconnects with her grandparents. She develops a special relationship with her grandfather.
This time away from other distractions helps Taylor reassess her life and plan for a future she really wants.
Both stories are interesting and at times intense. The characters are believable, and it is easy to share their emotions so ably described by the author.
Another good read from Léonie Kelsall.
The Homestead in the Eucalypts
(2024)
By Léonie Kelsall
Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 978-1-76106-788-4
$32.99; 432pp