Beattie Blaxton is distraught when she finds herself with child in 1930's Ireland, being neither married nor even engaged to the child's married father. After being kicked out of her parent's home and an unsuccessful attempt to give her unborn child up for adoption, her lover Henry comes to the rescue and spirits her away to Australia.
But life there is still not easy for Beattie as Henry, having fled his legal marriage, turns out to be quite a drinker and spendthrift who also has a problem with gambling. Soon Beattie decides to take her chances alone with her young daughter Lucy in a town where an unmarried mother is not looked upon kindly. When Beattie secures a job as a maid at a struggling sheep farm called Wildflower Hill, her future begins a slow revolution that will take her from the bottom rungs of society to the upper echelons of wealth and power. But along the way, there is much she will have to sacrifice.
Two generations later, Beattie's granddaughter Emma is having her own struggles. As a star ballerina who is just hitting the upper age range for a successful career, Emma suffers a career-ending injury. After wallowing in her own misery following her accident and an untimely break-up, Emma decides to return home to Australia to stay with her parents during her recovery. Once there, she is mysteriously called into her grandmother's lawyer's office to take receipt of the last piece of her inheritance. But it's not wealth that has been imparted to her -- it's her grandmother's farm, Wildflower Hill.
Curious to find out just what her grandmother Beattie has meant for her to discover, Emma embarks on a trip to Tasmania and Wildflower Hill, where she will learn the truth about herself and about her grandmother's past that was kept hidden for many dark years.
The awesome untamed beauty of the Australian state of Tasmania is the subject of the charming novel, WILDFLOWER HILL, by Australian author Kimberley Freeman. Freeman gives her readers the story of two women cut from the same cloth, yet so very, very different. Blending the past with present, Freeman's exquisite storytelling skills are evident as she presents a tale that will evoke sorrow, joy, love and a sense of heartfelt satisfaction in the end. It was amazing to learn about the island of Tasmania and the sheep and wool industry that is prominent there, and Freeman's inclusion of the history of the wool industry's contribution to World War II is a delightful piece of this complex but beautiful story.
Emma, a prima ballerina in London, is at a crossroads after
an injured knee ruins her career. Forced to rest and take
stock of her life, she finds that she's mistaken fame and
achievement for love and fulfillment. Returning home to
Australia, she learns of her grandmother Beattie's death and
a strange inheritance: a sheep station in isolated rural
Australia. Certain she has been saddled with an irritating
burden, Emma prepares to leave for Wildflower Hill to sell
the estate. Beattie also found herself at a crossroads as a
young woman, but she was pregnant and unwed. She eventually
found successbut only after following an unconventional path
that was often dangerous and heartbreaking. Beattie knew the
lessons she learned in life would be important to Emma one
day, and she wanted to make sure Emma's heart remained open
to love, no matter what life brought. She knew the magic of
the Australian wilderness would show Emma the way.
Wildflower Hill is a compelling, atmospheric, and romantic
novel about taking risks, starting again, and believing in
yourself. It's about finding out what you really want and
discovering that the answer might be not at all what you'd
expect.
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