Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
It was lovely to return to Settlers Bridge and hear more about the residents I had encountered before in Léonie Kelsall’s books. I had read about Lachlan and Hamish MacKenzie and how Lachlan had met his partner schoolteacher Charity.
Hamish is also prominent in the stories of others in and around this district as he is the local mechanic. He is well known for his friendly personality and his playboy behaviour. This story is all about his change of attitude as he sees others settling down with their partners and he believes he is now ready to do the same.
However, in the first chapter, it is not Hamish that the reader meets, but Jemma Di Angelis, a barrister in the city with a chance to make partner in a well-established and respected law firm. She is in competition for the position with a relative of the boss and they are working together on a case where each has a different perspective on how to advise the client.
At the same time, Jemma has received a couple of worrying anonymous messages which have undermined her confidence. To try to clear her mind she goes to Settlers Bridge to visit her father and his partner. There was an earlier book, by the same author, about how these two restored an old paddle wheeler.
It is here that she comes across Hamish. For Jemma, who needs a purpose, a reason for everything, with a focus on the end game, she finds Hamish to be very superficial. Both are very outspoken and with Hamish not being accustomed to rejection and believing Jemma has completely missed the friendly gene (51), they clash every time they are in the same vicinity. Hamish is determined to break through what he sees as Jemma’s ‘self-righteous veneer in case it imprisoned an actual fun, carefree human’ (107).
But Léonie Kelsall’s books are not just love stories. They embrace many of the problems facing ordinary people in the different stages of their lives. They highlight personality negatives and life-work balance. This is not just a story about two people finding each other. The differences between city and country life are spelled out through the storyline as well as the connectedness of people looking out for each other.
For many of the people encountered in this story, the reader may already be aware of their life situation through earlier books. If you do not have this awareness, it does not detract from this story. Problems arise whether one is in the city or the country.
The author makes her stories very human and realistic. Her love of the country shines through in some of her descriptions which are so appropriate to the characters portrayed – ‘Stars glittered like welding sparks against the glossy black sky’ (49), ‘two magpies carolling in the silver gum overhanging the sheep yard’ (107). Gemma soon realises that in the country setting she gains a more realistic approach to her life and that to get a good night’s sleep she needs the river’s lullaby (234).
Throughout this story the characters learn that first impressions can often be completely incorrect, that there is a fine line between independence and loneliness and that for all the positives of being surrounded by nature, and in a caring and sharing community, for some of the residents this life can be very restrictive, especially for the young who want to experience life for themselves.
I enjoy Léonie Kelsall’s stories because she writes about people just like the reader who have similar issues to contend with. For those open to comparing their own life with her characters there are often lessons to be learned.
The Ironbark Promise
(2026)
by Léonie Kelsall
Allen & Unwin
ISBN:978-1-76147-241-1
$34.99;367pp