Those Hamilton Sisters

By: Averil Kenny

Narrated by: Sarah Kants

Length: 16 hrs

Publisher's summary

Will their mother's scandalous past decide their futures?

The Sunday train which snaked into Noah Vale that verdant, midwinter afternoon brought with it fire, sending an inferno of small-town gossip roaring up the valley....

Beautiful, irrepressible Esther Hamilton had a reputation in the small Queensland town of Noah Vale. That was until she ran away, 20 years ago, under a cloud of shame.

It's now 1955 and following their mother's death, the Hamilton sisters - Sonnet, Fable and little Novella Plum - have returned to Noah Vale to live near their aunt and uncle.

Sonnet, 20 years old and legal guardian to her siblings, has never stepped foot in Noah Vale, yet has been the talk of the town for decades. Fable, at 12 years old, is a talented artist and lovelier than even her heartbreaking mother had been. And three year old Plum is just a little girl who's lost her mother and been taken away from the only home she's ever known.

As the years pass, the three sisters settle into their new life, working in the town, going to school and swimming in the perfect waterfalls nearby. But suspicion and judgment continue to follow the Hamilton sisters wherever they go. In a small town where everyone thinks they know everything about each other, it's hard to escape the past. And when Fable falls in love with Noah Vale's golden boy, is history destined to repeat itself?

Those Hamilton Sisters is a warm, captivating and irresistible story of love, family, secrets and finding your place in the world. For fans of Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton.

©2021 Averil Kenny (P)2021 Bonnier Books UK

Enjoyable Enough But Dragged A Bit

I’m not sure why I didn’t like this book as much as everyone else. Perhaps it was because it felt too romanticised, every character was too good looking, the environment too magical, personalities too exaggerated.

It is an epic novel, sprawling across at least a decade of the Hamilton sisters’ lives and I struggled with that too - in telling such a long plot, I feel like details were lost, characters undeveloped. Until the very end, Plum is but a supporting character rather than one of the titular sisters. In exploring modern themes, I feel the authenticity of life in 1950s/60s has been lost to some extent.

But on the plus side the northern Queensland setting was unique and atmospheric and there were intriguing aspects of many of the Hamilton women as they grow and evolve as women and in their relationships. I most enjoyed the parts of Fable as a teenager hanging out in the glade. But over all I did struggle to get through this book - towards the end it really dragged for me, contrary to many other reviews that said they couldn’t put it down. I think in the end I just wanted more authenticity.