Book: Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman

Pages: 544 Pages (Paperback)

A Review: This review is based on a copy of Wildflower Hill that was won through a goodreads giveaway.

Wildflower Hill is about the intertwined stories of Beattie and her granddaughter Emma.  Upon Emma’s forced retirement from her career as a ballerina, she returns to Australia, and learns that Beattie left her a farm in Australia.  We learn more about Beattie, and her story unfolds.

I loved it!  There was something compelling about Beattie, and I found myself wanting to skim over Emma’s story just to get to Beattie’s story.  Emma does learn about her grandmother and the life she led before settling down and getting married. 

I don’t want to discount Emma, but she seemed a little cold and her story was a little boring.  This is in comparison to Beattie, whose life had so many hardships and yet she managed to be very successful and happy.

The narrative itself was very strong, and the 2 stories went together so well.  The 2 “voices” were very distinct, and you had no problem knowing who was narrating.  Plus, the weaving of the 2 stories was really well done.  There were several parallels between Beattie and Emma, and there were definitely some issues scattered throughout the book, like being a single parent and racism in Australia in the 1950’s. 

I loved the detail that Freeman put into Wildflower Hill and it was a very vivid and rich book.  The characters were very vivid as well, and I could picture everything so clearly. 

Review: 5 out of 5.  I loved it!