The Way From Here
-
-
4.3 • 23 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
A cache of letters from beyond the grave leads a bereaved sister on a journey from Australia to an idyllic French coastal town - and back in time to a golden summer where it all went wrong. An addictive, atmospheric and evocative mystery that examines how we become who we are and whether we can truly know those we love.
'The Way from Here heralds the arrival of a formidable new talent. Jane Cockram will sweep you away with this tale of sisterly love, family secrets and one woman's search for redemption from beyond the grave. With unforgettable characters, exquisite writing and a breathtaking landscape, this beautiful novel will leave you enchanted.' Sally Hepworth
Growing up, the Anderson sisters were close, even though they were different. Susie, the wild one, wanted an adventurous life while Mills followed a safer path.
When Susie dies suddenly from a fall when hanging a string of lights for her fortieth birthday party, Mills is grief-stricken, even though they had drifted apart. Then Mills receives a bundle of mysterious letters from her sister to be read in the case of her death. Each letter instructs her to visit a place special to Susie, both to spread her ashes but also to uncover some truths Susie has long kept hidden from her family. Truths that seem to date back to one golden summer in an idyllic French coastal town, where a dark and shocking event was the beginning of an unravelling thread. A thread that leads both to Mills' present and her mother Margaret's past.
What choices connect the past to the present? What family secrets will surface and change the future?
In this twisty, evocative mystery, Jane Cockram flips the looking glass to reveal the lines of deception and love, truth and regret that run through families.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The sumptuous if implausible latest by Australian novelist Cockram (The House of Brides) follows its middle-aged housewife protagonist from Australia to England and an idyllic island off the coast of France on a mission dictated by letters from her late sister. Camilla Anderson's adventurous younger sister Susie dies from a fall while hanging Christmas lights, leaving Camilla a series of letters that were to be read upon her death. The letters recount 19-year-old Susie's trip to Europe in 1998, where she fell in love a couple times before returning unhappily to Australia. Now, Camilla retraces Susie's steps and discovers surprising secrets kept by Susie and their mother, Margaret. It turns out both women held ties to the family of upper-class, reserved David, whom Susie first met at a London museum. The sensual story of Susie's youth on a Mediterranean island, where Camilla is instructed to scatter some of Susie's ashes, is a delectable treat, but the convoluted layers of connections between David's patrician family and Susie's middle-class one strain credulity, as does the narrative device of having Susie, who was not ill or expecting to die, write letters sending her sister on a wild goose chase. The sun-soaked atmosphere has its charm, more so if one doesn't try to make sense of the plot.
