OBSERVER: Julie Houghton’s Review
Life certainly deals some curve balls at times, and Queensland author Julie Holland explores that idea to the full in hee latest novel, ‘Full Circle’.
As in Holland’s earlier novels, the protagonist is not some gorgeous size 8 blonde 20-something, but a mature woman in midlife. Not your traditional kind of heroine, but someone her readers recognise and with whom they identify.
Mallory Campbell is Full Circle’s midlife heroine, who unexpectedly wins Division One in a lottery, and plans to revive her stagnant marriage by surprising her husband John with two tickets for the two of them to Venice.
But before she can share her news she overhears a conversation she was not meant to hear, which exposes a particular brutal kind of infidelity that rocks Mallory’s world.
Throw in an unloving estranged father nearing the end of his days, a chance meeting with various people from her past, and the scene is set for Mallory to discover a lot of family skeletons, plus an unexpected chance for her to find some romantic happiness eventually.
As in her earlier novels, Holland’s descriptive powers as a writer are given full rein in the Victorian rural setting that is the backdrop to events.
Holland is a natural yarn spinner and doesn’t let her reader stray for a minute as she unravels her story.
“Full Circle is about one woman’s determination to move beyond betrayals of the past and to confront family secrets; to rediscover herself, and the transformative power of second-chance love,” Holland explains.
Full Circle can be bought through online platforms, or through www.heartsandmind
art.com.au, and it deserves that ultimate Aussie accolade – a good read.
- Julie Houghton