The Wattle Island Book Club by Sandie Docker, bestselling author of The Banksia Bay Beach Shack, is the story of two women from different eras – Anne, who fled Wattle Island in the 1950s, and Grace, who heads to Wattle Island in 2018.
Both women share the same qualities of COURAGE to make a new beginning, PASSION for new challenges, LOVE of books and the solace they bring, and HOPE for a town’s future.
As a young woman, Anne has dreams of a life in the city, where she can find employment and make something of herself. These dreams are dashed when a secret she has been keeping is discovered and she is forced to return home.
Grace, a librarian at Port Maddison Regional Library, is in charge of supplying books to clubs for their sessions. She has also been writing bucket lists since childhood. With a recent wake-up call putting things into perspective, she is ticking off as many of these challenges as she is able.
Then, Anne contacts Grace regarding the resurrection of The Wattle Island Book Club. (Mystery surrounds the cause of the break-up years before) Grace is determined to solve the mystery and heads to Wattle Island.
Anne and Grace join forces to help the residents of the Island to come to terms with the trauma that tore the book club apart.
But will the two women be able to bring them all together to mend rifts that took place in the past and offer new hope for the future?
This is another wonderful, moving novel by the author, who takes the reader into the very hearts and minds of her characters. It deals with issues that occurred in the past and many that still continue to affect the lives of so many today.
Despite trauma and hardship, there is the love of adventure and the satisfaction of pushing one’s boundaries. Also, the joy of developing the artist in each of us, and, above all, the serendipity of discovering a good book and sharing it with friends.
One of my favourite books for the year, and a wonderful gift for Christmas!
ISBN: 9781760890377
The Wattle Island Book Club by Sandie Docker – Penguin Books Australia
The Wattle Island Book Club is available in paperback e-book and audiobook
About Sandie Docker
Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour. She first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing – a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world. Sandie first decided to put pen to paper (yes, she writes everything the old-fashioned way before hitting a keyboard) when living in London. Now back in Sydney with her husband and daughter, she writes every day.
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