The heart-warming new family saga from the bestselling author of The Kookaburra Creek Café.
Welcome to the Banksia Bay Beach Shack, where first love is found and last chances are taken. Mysteries, secrets, lies. What is hiding, or being hidden, in the small sleepy seaside town of Banksia Bay?
After her grandmother, Lillian, passed away, journalist Laura Prescott discovered a series of intriguing mementos left behind. A photograph, a pendant, a postcard. They make Laura question what she knew about her grandmother. She makes the decision to go back to Banksia Bay to learn the truth about Lillian’s past. But when she arrives, Laura finds a community where everyone seems to be hiding something.
Virginia is the owner of the iconic Beach Shack café. She has kept her past and all its secrets buried for sixty years. As Laura slowly uncovers the tragic fragments of one summer so long ago, Virginia must decide whether to hold on to her secrets or set the truth free. And what is the price of telling the truth?
Interspersed throughout the story of Laura is the story of Young Gigi and Lily. Coming from different worlds, they make unlikely friends, but forge an unbreakable bond – the ‘Sisters of Summer’. But in 1961, a chain of events is set off that reaches far into the future. One lie told. One lie to set someone free. One lie that changes the course of so many lives.
The Banksia Bay Beach Shack is a pure delight to read. This book will make you feel a whole range of emotions. It will make you believe in love, friendship, redemption and justice. It will also bring tears to your eyes with the effects of loss, betrayal, misunderstandings and lies. It shows just how secrets and lies can affect entire generations – especially in a small town. Docker has also successfully written how a small town in the early 60’s might treat newcomers who might talk or sound different.
The beautifully descriptive writing will draw you in. Sandie Docker has done a brilliant job of weaving the past in with what Laura discovers in the present day, feeding you breadcrumbs of information until you reach the final reveals. She creates a small town that is so believably real that you want to go visit, and underpins the mystery of the small town’s past with a healthy dose of romance. This delightful family saga has something for everyone and should be savoured, each chapter by delicious chapter.
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