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Posts Tagged ‘history’

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Posted in reviews, tagged , , , , , , , on December 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Salt to the SeaSalt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ruta Sepetys has a particular writing style that I thoroughly enjoy. Salt to the Sea took me on a unknown journey through history without being bogged down with lots of small details. If you like a fiction book based on an historical event then this is for you. The four characters which switched between being the storyteller were all different and with individual goals, and I found myself just wishing and hoping for a happy ending. I did cry and by the end was feeling sad, melancholic and even a bit hopeless – the fact that this story was based on a true event was just a reminder of what our world can be like. The tiny glimmer of hope at the very end was also enough to make me cry again, not all was lost.

Copy received via NetGalley.

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Zenna Dare by Roseanna Hawke

Posted in reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Zenna DareZenna Dare by Rosanne Hawke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great read that kept me interested with every page. Alternating between Jenefer in present day Kapunda, South Australia and her ancestor Gweniver in 1850’s Cornwall/South Australia, it was like reading through layers of a story, slowly unravelling the mystery that appears to have been a family secret.
Jenefer was a nice character who seemed to mature throughout the story and I loved how she jumped right into the job of researching her family history, using the internet as well as local library and State Library to get as much information as she could to find answers. There were a few times I really wanted to jump to the end to find out what the big secret actually was, the suspense was written well.
Caleb was a fantastic addition to the story with his relaxed and honest attitude as well as bringing with him, his connection to indigenous stories, the land, stolen generation and his experiences with reconciliation. It added a different element to the story and gave me more to think about.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and thought it made researching family history somewhat exciting (something that I wouldn’t have thought previously!)

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