Ciska's Book Chest

AuthorKate Morton grew up in the mountains of southeast Queensland, Australia. She has degrees in Dramatic Art and English Literature and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. Kate lives with her husband and two young sons in Brisbane.ReviewI read this book for the second time and it is still as mesmerizing as it was the first time. This book is one big warm blanket holding you captive till the end.I love the ease with which the author binds four generations of people together building up a story of love and loss. Each of the woman have their own fight, their own story but eventually their lives come together and all the mysteries surrounding them are solved. The time line in the story is going back and forth but it is not at all disturbing. Chapters answer questions from previous chapters or give new hints for further investigations. Though it is possible to guess the outcome of this book halfway I think it is still a surprising outcome and you will not stop reading because you want to know the how and why.This book is mainly about the woman in the family. They are the ones making the decisions. The man are there and they play their part but they are obviously not important in the outcome. All the woman are very strong willed making their choices and the steps they take throughout their life are believable.The story touches several moral questions about childbirth, adoption and growing up without mothers. I do feel the author found a way to write about these subjects that makes you consider the choices people make and why without judging any of the decisions.Definitely a book I can read again in a few years when I forgot most of the details.Some of the quotes I liked in this book “You must learn to know the difference between tales and the truth, my Liza, she would say. Fairy tales have a habit of ending too soon. They never show what happens afterwards when the prince and princess ride off the page.” “Thinking of nothing. Trying to think of nothing. Thinking of everything.” “A way of looking at you that told you she was listening, that she understood all you were saying, and all you weren't.”