Overall rating and opinion of "Ironbark Hill" by Jennie Linnane

[Eryn Bradshaw]

I thought the book was fantastically written. Not my normal sort of read but I loved reading it. Linnane has a great way with words, from the vivid imagery of Ironbark Hill and Australia to the accents of the characters. You can almost hear what the characters are saying in their country accents. I would highly recommend this book to high school age students or older.

[AmandaReadsBooks1]

What a beautiful story! Natalia is a lovely young girl with dreams of becoming an artist. She also takes on the difficult role of caring for her family, and protecting them from their abusive step-father. I wish her mom would’ve stepped up to the plate more in this regard. I will definitely recommend this book to other people, because it has important messages that many people can relate to.

[bukworm543]

I could not honestly get very involved in this story. The plot moved to slowly and other than showing how much a person can truly overcome it did not seem to have a real point. However, the characters were well developed. Each had their own way of speaking and were easily distinguishable from one another which I loved. I also have to say that, while I did not enjoy it very much, it was quite well written and there was enough foreshadowing to keep me interested to read until the end. My main complaint would be that the scenes where any type of real action were involved came and went before I had even realized they had occurred. It tended to be a bit anti-climactic in that respect.

Thank you for sharing. Good character development is one of the hallmarks of a good book, but I agree with you that there also needs to be an interesting plot to engage the reader.

[Calypso Terrier]

"Ironbark Hill" is a very interesting book. I love how it was told from the perspective of a young girl dreaming to be an artist. Natalia's love for her mom, brother, and artwork really drew me into this book.

[mac83]

This sounds like a really good book with likable characters and a good plot. I think I would enjoy this book based on the comments.