Sandie Docker

This is a dual timeline historical fiction by Australian author Sandie Docker that shifts between contemporary and WWII Tasmania.

The modern storyline involves single mother and musician Sarah who is stricken by grief and guilt when her daughter Melody is injured in an accident. They go to the Redgum River Retreat to seek some healing and solace in musical therapy. In Redgum River Sarah begins to uncover some of her grandmother Rosalee’s story growing up there and working as a photographer in the war sending snapshots of home to the soldiers. Sarah wonders about the significance of twins Albert and Edward in her grandmother’s photo album.

This was a pleasant read and I enjoyed the historical insight about the Snapshots from Home project. Somehow though I found myself not fully able to connect to the characters in either storyline. The storyline also felt a little too easy. 3.5 stars for me.… (mehr)

The Wattle Island Book Club, the fourth book from Australian author Sandie Docker, is a bittersweet story about love, loss, courage, passion and hope.

Seven years after the last meeting of the book club on Wattle Island, octogenarian artist, Anne Sato, is determined to revive it, hoping in part that it will provide her grandson, Sam, with the impetus to move past the tragedy that haunts him. Reaching out to a library on the mainland, Anne is put in contact with Grace Elliot who is happy to help, despite the logistical challenges. When Anne reports a lacklustre participation in the first book club meeting, Grace proposes attending the next gathering. Not only is she eager to encourage the success of book club, but visiting the island will fulfil an item on her bucket list, which Grace is running out of time to complete.

Anne is a delightful character with a little of the sass that comes from no longer worrying much what others think of you. A recent stroke is her motivation for reviving the book club, which she hopes will not only bring the community together, but also help her grandson. Further insight into her character comes through Anne’s reminiscing about the past, from arriving on the island as an orphan to be placed in the care of her aunt, through to her unconventional (for the times) courtship and marriage to Tadashi Sato.

Grace is initially a bit of an enigma. When we are first introduced she seems to be like any twenty something year old, indulging in adventures like bungee jumping and skydiving with her best friend, though there are early hints that not all is as it seems. I liked the idea of Grace’s evolving bucket list (I’ve never put together one of my own, suspecting it would just say ‘Read more often’) and her determination to live on her terms. Grace is a character that garnered both my admiration and sympathy.

Docker touches on some serious issues in The Wattle Island Book Club including misogyny, racism, mental illness, suicide and cancer, but the power of literature to change lives is a theme that unifies the characters, as well as the past and the present. Readers will no doubt enjoy references to cultural classics such as Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones Diary and Jane Austen’s oeuvre.

Combining history, romance, literature, art, and a touch of mystery, there is plenty to engage with in The Wattle Island Book Club. However, It would be remiss of me not to mention there is a fairly major element of the story I have mixed feelings about, and though I was somewhat mollified by the epilogue, it would definitely be something I’d raise for discussion in a book club.

The Wattle Island Book Club is a captivating, wistful, and poignant novel, and would make a wonderful selection for your next book club meeting.… (mehr)

The Cottage at Rosella Cove is the second novel by Australian author, Sandie Docker.

Themes explored through the novel Include friendship, love, loss, grief, betrayal and hope. The story involves three timelines, which Docker handles remarkably well.

In the present, Nicole Miller arrives at Rosella Cove. In exchange for renovating a cottage on the bluff, she has a rent free six month lease during which she hopes to heal her wounds, and reimagine a new future. Despite planning on spending her time in the Cove alone, Nicole is quickly befriended by the community, particularly local family Mandy, Trevor, Jack, and family friend, Danny Temple, who cheerfully offer to help with the renovations. Nicole also strikes up a friendship of sorts with Charlie, widely considered to be a curmudgeonly old hermit, who has his own story to tell.

The near past timeline explains why Nicole felt compelled to flee to Rosella Cove. Docker explores Nicoles experiences thoughtfully, slowly revealing the reason for Nicole’s fragile emotional state.

The distant past, is revealed through a series of letters Nicole discovers hidden behind the fireplace. The letters are all written by the former owner of the cottage, Ivy Wilson, to her husband beginning in 1941, and continue until her death in 1976. These letters reveal the joys and heartbreak of Ivy’s life, and in part, help Nicole come to terms with the direction her own life has taken.

Docker’s Rosella Cove is a small coastal community, not dissimilar from those a stones throw from me. I can easily visualise the cottage, boathouse, and the towns general environs based on the authors descriptions. The inhabitants of the Cove, both in the past and present, are fairly typical of the genre.

I enjoyed The Cottage at Rosella Cove, the story was both sweet and poignant, and has a warm, genuine feel.… (mehr)