Loretta Boskovic never dreamed she would end up a single mother with two kids in a dusty Australian country town. She never imagined she’d have to campaign to save the local primary school. She certainly had no idea her best friend would turn out to be the crusty old junk man. All in all, she’s starting to wonder if she took a wrong turn somewhere. If only she could drop the kids at the orphanage and start over . . . But now, thanks to her protest letters, the education minister is coming to Gunapan, and she has to convince him to change his mind about the school closure. And as if facing down the government isn’t enough, it soon becomes clear that the school isn’t the only local spot in trouble. In the drought-stricken bushland on the outskirts of town, a luxury resort development is about to siphon off a newly discovered spring water supply. No one seems to know anything, no one seems to care.
With a dream lover on a Harley unlikely to appear to save the day, Loretta needs to stir the citizens of Gunapan to action. She may be short of money, influence, and a fully functioning car, but she has good friends. Together they can organize chocolate drives, supermarket sausage sizzles, a tour of the local slaughterhouse—whatever it takes to hold on to the scrap of world that is home. Warm, moving, and funny, The Fine Color of Rust is “a story about love: where we look for it, what we do with it, and how it shows up in the most unexpected packages”
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Washington Square Press; Original edition (September 4, 2012)
- ISBN: 9781451678161
About the Author
P.A. O’Reilly is a writer from Victoria, Australia. Her work has been published and broadcast widely in Australia and internationally. Her short story collection, The End of the World, was shortlisted for several awards. Her debut novel The Factory was broadcast in fifteen episodes as the ABC Radio National Book Reading in 2009. Find out more at PaddyOReilly.com.au.
REVIEW:
My first trip to Australia!
Even if only in story.... I liked it too and would go back! I also liked the family that the story was centered around. The mother, Loretta, reminded me of Erin Brockovich. She knows that there is an injustice going on and she tries to stop it. With it being about nature and development is where I draw lots of similarities.
I hope another book comes with Loretta and Justin falling in love. That is literally the only way this story could get sweeter.
I admit, I liked the story. That's given. It was a new place, a fresh bunch of characters, but it didn't blow me away. There was a whole lot of running around trying to save things, but I didn't really see a lot of saving. It was mostly the road to get there and then nothing. That was disappointing. I want to know if all ends well, and I never will.
Oh, well. I still met a great family who knew many wonderful people. Norm and Justin were the closest to Loretta, but there was a bunch more too. The dynamic of the people made it a decent read.
3/5
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Haven't heard of this author before. This sounds like a good one to add to my list.
ReplyDeleteinteresting setting
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