TEASER TUESDAY: LYREBIRD HILL BY ANNA ROMER

I loved Anna Romer’s debut novel Thornwood House (review here) so I was excited to receive a copy of Lyrebird Hill for review. So excited that I set it on the shelf and waited a while to read it … yes, I did. Some books I put off a while simply because I know I’ll be sad when they’re done. Am I the only one who does this? Anyhow, I read Lyrebird Hill over the past two nights and just as I thought, I was sad when it was over. I’ll be reviewing it in the next week, but in the meantime, here’s are two teasers from this fab book about secrets, diaries, letters, mysteries and the homestead that connects them all.

Lighting the lantern, I rolled quietly off the mattress and padded across the floorboards to the privacy screen. I was about to duck behind it when I caught sight of Carsten’s fob watch sitting on the desk. It attracted my eye because of its odd shape. It was oval, and flatter than a watch ought to be. I went closer. It was not a watch at all … but a lady’s locket. (p147)

‘You are nothing like her,’ he whispered, drawing his lips back from his teeth in a forced smile. ‘And yet you have your own rough charm.’ (p148)

And here’s the blurb:

When all that you know comes crashing down, do you run? Or face the truth? Ruby Cardel has the semblance of a normal life – a loving boyfriend, a fulfilling career – but in one terrible moment, her life unravels. The discovery that the death of her sister, Jamie, was not an accident makes her question all she’s known about herself and her past. Travelling back home to Lyrebird Hill, Ruby begins to remember the year that has been forever blocked in her memory . . . Snatches of her childhood with beautiful Jamie, and Ruby’s only friendship with the boy from the next property, a troubled foster kid. Then Ruby uncovers a cache of ancient letters from a long-lost relative, Brenna Magavin, written from her cell in a Tasmanian gaol where she is imprisoned for murder. As she reads, Ruby discovers that her family line is littered with tragedy and violence. Slowly, the gaps in Ruby’s memory come to her. And as she pieces together the shards of truth, what she finally discovers will shock her to the core – about what happened to Jamie that fateful day, and how she died.