I started writing my thoughts on this book not long after I began reading. I thought the story was beautiful & loved so many things about it. But the further I read, the more intense it became. As a Mum, I’ve always found it tough to read about bad things happening to children. So I was a bit triggered by some of the content of this story as well as Della’s own personal history with an abusive Father. Despite that, there were so many reasons I enjoyed this book including the characters & the locations.
Della was probably my favourite character. Although she has never fully recovered after the loss of her daughter, you really got the sense that their is a deep emotional world within her, & maybe some trepidation on how best to navigate that with all the strong personalities that surrounded her. I loved that Jasmine chose her Mum for this trip, despite their history & their differences. I love the growth that happened from their time together, but also internally throughout their trip. I loved the way the author weaved Aboriginal culture & practices together with British literary figures & iconic locations. As I said, there was still a lot of things I loved about this story.
It was also really emotional for me, as a white Australian woman, to hear the contrast in a black Australian woman’s story, the history that was written in this novel was insight into the pain & mistreatment they endured. I appreciated this contrast for some perspective & it only added to my love for these particular characters. It was a really enjoyable story overall.