26 July 2020

Review: INHERITANCE OF SECRETS, Sonya Bates

  • read as an e-book through Libby, source: my local library
  • Shortlisted in Harper Collins Australia Banjo Prize 2018 for an unpublished manuscript
  • ISBN: 9781460757857
  • ISBN 10: 1460757858
  • On Sale: 20/04/2020
  • Pages: 432 
Synopsis (publisher)

A brutal murder. A wartime promise. A quest for the truth.

Heather Morris meets Jane Harper in a gripping, page-turning mystery.

No matter how far you run, the past will always find you.

Juliet's elderly grandparents are killed in their Adelaide home. Who would commit such a heinous crime - and why? The only clue is her grandfather Karl's missing signet ring.

When Juliet's estranged sister, Lily, returns in fear for her life, Juliet suspects something far more sinister than a simple break-in gone wrong. Before Juliet can get any answers, Lily vanishes once more.

Juliet only knew Karl Weiss as a loving grandfather, a German soldier who emigrated to Australia to build a new life. What was he hiding that could have led to his murder? While attempting to find out, Juliet uncovers some disturbing secrets from WWII that will put both her and her sister's lives in danger ...

Gripping. Tense. Mysterious. Inheritance of Secrets links the crimes of the present to the secrets of the past and asks how far would you go to keep a promise?

My Take

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, partly because it is set in my home town, but also partly because I am so familiar with the historical events it is connected with. The end of World War II started a whole new chapter in Australian history, but our fascination with television programmes and films about the war clearly show us that it is still very much part of our psyche.

In the Acknowledgements and then the Reading Group Notes at the back of the book, the author gives us an insight into what led her to write this particular story. 

The author has done a particularly good job with the mysteries woven into the story, and there is that little frisson that we the readers know just a little more than Juliet the main character does.

Recommended.

My rating: 4.7

About the author
Sonya Bates is a Canadian writer who has made South Australia her home since 1997. She studied linguistics at the University of Victoria before obtaining a masters degree in speech-language pathology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Having worked with children with communication difficulties for over twenty-five years, she now enjoys sharing her knowledge with speech pathology students as a part-time clinical educator. When her two daughters were young, she started writing for children and has published several children's books. Her debut adult novel, Inheritance of Secrets, was shortlisted as an unpublished manuscript in the inaugural Banjo Prize in 2018.

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