![Wildflower Hill](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1314025082m/10002296.jpg)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. Loved it. I've had it as an e-book for ages and I'm kicking myself that I haven't read it earlier (because then I would have known how much I loved it and I could have been reading more Kimberley Freeman books by now)!
Anyway, "Wildflower Hill" is the story of two women - Beattie Blaxland and Emma Blaxland-Hunter, and the story alternates between the two.
In 1920's Glasgow, 19-year-old Beattie finds herself pregnant to her married lover, Henry. After they run away to Tasmania, their daughter, Lucy, is born. But their relationship rapidly deteriorates. Beattie realises that she can't rely on Henry - he is a gambler and a drunkard, and prone to violence towards Beattie. She realises that she will have to make her own life with her daughter.
With the help of her next door neighbour, Doris, she escapes with Lucy to Lewinford. She works as a seamstress for Doris's cousin, Margaret, a good Christian woman who is at first very kind and generous towards Beattie. However, Margaret's strong religious views cause a rift between them, and eventually she betrays Beattie by bringing Henry back into Beattie's life. Henry, now sober and back with his wealthy wife, Molly, persuades a reluctant Beattie that he is a changed man and that he wants to spend time with his daughter. He can now give Lucy whatever she needs. Beattie has little choice in the matter, as she basically has nothing to offer her. Gradually, Henry and Molly have Lucy with them more and more, and she is with Beattie less and less, and Beattie is powerless to do anything about it.
Beattie's life turns around when she is offered a job as a maid at Wildflower Hill, owned by the wealthy Raphael Blanchard. Beattie ultimately ends up owning Wildflower Hill, but how this comes about I'm not going to say, because it's a spoiler! I will say that she doesn't marry Raphael Blanchard to get it. It's a much more interesting solution than that! With the help of two loyal men, Charlie and Mikhail, she is determined to turn the sheep shearing business around. Even though she is their boss, Beattie and the two men become friends, working together as a team. And though they try to fight it, she and Charlie fall in love - a situation which is further complicated by the fact that he is half Aboriginal. Their love affair is passionate and real, but it comes at a great cost.
Will Beattie succeed in the business? Can she and Charlie find lasting happiness? And what of Lucy? Will she and Beattie ever be a family again?
Fast forward umpteen years, and we meet Emma Blaxland-Hunter, Beattie's granddaughter, and a world famous ballerina. Emma's world comes crashing down around her ears when her long-term relationship ends, and then, during a late night practice session at the studio, she damages her knee in a career-ending accident. Distraught and depressed, she leaves London and returns to Sydney, where she discovers that Beattie has left her Wildflower Hill.
Emma decides to go to Tasmania to sort out the house, with a view to eventually selling it. It is really just a distraction to keep her busy while she licks her wounds. Beattie has used the house as storage, and as Emma sorts through the boxes, she finds clues to her grandmother's secret past. She is intrigued by the thought that Beattie had a whole other life and family before she met Emma's grandfather. She is also intrigued by the handsome schoolteacher brother of the local girl, Monica, who has been hired to help her clean up the house. From the moment Patrick came on the scene, I was so rooting for her to be with him! He was so much better than that Josh dude she broke up with in London.
Patrick tells her that he volunteers as the pianist for a children's dancing troupe in Hobart, and asks her if she will come and speak to them. At first, Emma refuses, making excuses about not staying in town long and that her knee would get uncomfortable, but later, when she meets Patrick by chance in town and he takes her home in his car, she finds some leaflets that clearly show that many of the children have Down syndrome. Riddled with guilt, she decides to go along.
Emma finds herself particularly drawn to a teenage girl called Mina, who loves ballet. She decides to choreograph a special piece just for Mina. She realises she can share her love of dance with someone who really loves it too. And she's falling for Patrick, even though she believes she still loves Josh. And all the time she's telling herself that she's not going to stay at Wildflower Hill...
And then Josh calls from London and says he wants her back...
What will she choose? Her new life in Tasmania with Patrick, or her old life in London with Josh? Well, let's just say that she nearly makes a HUGE mistake. HUGE. But it all comes right in the end.
This is a wonderful book. Both Beattie's and Emma's stories are intriguing and kept me turning the pages eagerly. Both women are great characters, but Beattie, in particular, is real, flawed, and very human. I cheered when good stuff happened to her, and I cried when bad stuff happened to her. I just loved her. At first, Emma seems a bit self-involved, but she really grew as a character, and became much more likeable as the story progressed. I really wanted her to find peace and happiness at the end.
Does she? Well, you'll just have to read the book to find out. I highly recommend it.
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