A picturesque small town, a cosy community garden, a facade of tolerance and acceptance – but when three women with wildly different loyalties come together, what secrets and lies will be revealed?
Tara Hooper is at breaking point. With two young children, a business in a town struggling under an unexpected crime wave, and her husband more interested in his cricket team than their marriage, life is a juggling act. Then, when new neighbours arrive and they are exactly the sort of people the town doesn’t want or need, things get worse.
Life has taught Helen Demetriou two things: being homeless is terrifying and survival means keeping your cards close to your chest. Having clawed back some stability through her involvement in the community garden, she dares to relax. But as she uncovers some shady goings-on in the council, that stability turns to quicksand.
For teenage mother Jade Innes, life can be lonely among the judgement of the town and the frequent absences of her boyfriend. A chance encounter draws her into the endangered community garden where she makes friends for the first time. Glimpsing a different way of life is enticing but its demands are terrifying. Does she even deserve to try?
Can such disparate women unite to save the garden and ultimately stop the town from tearing itself apart?
From much-loved, bestselling author Fiona Lowe, A Home Like Ours is a timely novel exploring prejudice and privilege in small town Australia.
Whenever I settle down with a Fiona Lowe book, I know a great story is in store. She’s one of those authors who delivers one fantastic read after another – think Rachael Johns and Judy Nunn. Her last novel, Just an Ordinary Family, captivated readers with its depiction of family, friendship, secrets and betrayal in a small Victorian community. Fiona explores similar themes in A Home Like Ours, and I have to say, this might just be her best work yet.
Set on the picturesque banks of the Murray River, in the fictional town of Boolanga, A Home Like Ours is a compulsive page-turner about a small town turning in on itself. The novel follows four very different women – Tara, Helen, Jade and Fiza – each with their own issues and struggling to make sense of their place in the world. Lowe’s character-work shines here, and each of these women is flawed, complex and completely relatable. As we step into the shoes of each of these characters, Lowe deftly explores a number of confronting themes such as homelessness, ageism, racism and chronic illness.
Rich, thought-provoking, and extremely absorbing, A Home Like Ours is yet another incredible read from the very talented Fiona Lowe. I flew through the nearly six-hundred-page long novel and am now checking out her backlist as I eagerly await her next one.
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