Review by heidifinger -- Ironbark Hill by Jennie Linnane

[Heidi Finger]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Ironbark Hill" by Jennie Linnane.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Ironbark Hill by Jennie Linnane – I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

The author, Jennie Linnane, tells us of a teenager, Natalie, who lives in a broken household. She lives in her Grandpa’s farm house with her mother, stepfather, grandpa, and siblings. Natalie works for Mrs. Glover who is an artist and teacher. Natalie enjoys going to work because she aspires to be an art teacher as well. Mrs. Glover spends extra time with her painting and lets Natalie prepare her for plays by reading through scripts with her. Another reason she enjoys going to work is because her home life is made dreadful by her hateful, abusive, drunken stepfather. Later on, a kiss from Mrs. Glover’s husband is her third reason for enjoyment at her place of work.

Natalie is inspiring with how she manages Alex, her stepfather. It is very clear the animosity Natalie has for Alex and her willpower to protect her mother. I love how Natalie stuck up for her mother and for herself. Alex needed more money to get his truck fixed because he spends too much of the family money on alcohol. His plan was to sell Natalie’s prized heifer to a nasty, terrible man, Sam Teagle. Sam’s parents happened to be the ones to help raise Alex when he was abandoned as a child. I was silently cheering Natalie on when she snuck the cow to a co-worker’s pasture but I was dreading the consequences of the act. Alex beat her badly but Natalie did not concede, he did not know where the heifer was hiding. The scenes of abusive were plenty graphic making me cringe while I was reading.

I appreciate the pull of the siblings for and against each other as this would be the case in a family with an abusive parent. Some would be swayed to love the abuser and make excuses for him while others watch idly, their blood boiling with hatred. It was difficult for me to understand why the author added the love interest of Mr. Glover. It makes Natalie seem weak and the rest of the book was building up her strength of character as a strong woman.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because I really enjoyed this tale of triumph against an abusive stepfather. Unfortunately, the book contains many spelling errors that were distracting pushing the stars down to 3 instead of 4.


~heidifinger

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Ironbark Hill
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