3 out of 4 stars
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“I was still a child, standing no higher than my mother’s breast when the bitter taste of fear and hatred first came to me.” This first sentence in the prologue sets the tone of Ironbark Hill by Jennie Linnane. Fear and hatred ruled poor Natalie’s young life. Can she use those feelings to change her fate? Will Natalie be able to retain her immature Catholic faith and still protect her family? How will the abuse of her stepfather and her poverty affect the decisions she makes along the way?
Natalie is a 16 year old young women who struggles through a life of poverty with an abusive, alcoholic stepfather. Natalie tries to find her identity as a woman while also providing for her family when her stepfather routinely spends his meager wages on alcohol. Often having to protect her mother and brother from his aggression, she searches for a way out of their dire situation possibly compromising her long held beliefs along the way.
Ironbark Hill is a well written book that is easy to read. It flows nicely and urges the reader to continue. With Jennie Linnane’s use of descriptive words the scenery came alive and I could readily imagine the places and faces that Natalie encountered. The characters are well developed and it was easy to form an emotional connection with each one. I could quite easily imagine the struggles that Natalie faced and the evil of her stepfather.
I really wanted to love Natalie as a strong female character. For the first part of the book, I believed she could be that woman and I grew to really like her as a main character. I understood her troubles and I wanted her to succeed. I think the author intended her to be just that, but because of some of her choices towards the end of the book, I lost that connection with her. I had high hopes that she could retain the moral fiber that she was raised with and still succeed in her mission but in the end, I felt, these things were not realized. Perhaps this is a good reflection of real life?
Overall this was a good read. I would give it 3 out of 4 stars. I didn’t give it 2 stars because this book was well written and kept me reading. However, I couldn’t give it 4 stars because in the end, I was just disappointed. I would recommend this book to other women looking to read about a strong female character that may be facing similar life challenges.
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Ironbark Hill
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