I borrowed the audio book of The Blue Mile from my local library. I was looking for material to give me a ‘feel’ for Sydney during the Great Depression as research for my current book. Although it is a fictional story line the backdrop of hardship, politics of the day and the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are based on facts.

The reason I chose the audio book was to make use of my time driving to and from work – trying to cram in as much research as possible.

I was already fairly familiar with the history of the time but still learnt a great deal more. As an insight into the era and the building of a major landmark, it is accurate and absorbing. The Sydney Harbour is itself a link between the two characters. It provides work for Eoghan when finding a job was difficult and inspiration for Olivia’s fashion designs.

The blue mile refers to the stretch of water in Sydney Harbour between the suburbs where the two characters, Eoghan O Keenan and Olivia Greene, live. A world apart in relation to background, financial security and class.

As a love story, it is enchanting. The characters are believable and, although they come from different class backgrounds, are well matched. Little Agnes is a delightful child who has a very grown up attitude to life.

The audio book is narrated by Zoe Ellerton-Ashley and James Harvy. Both of these Australian actors brought their characters to life as well as that of Agnes. James’ Irish accent was delightful to listen to.

I loved the story and its audio presentation and often wished my trip to work was longer so I could keep listening.

I am not a reader of love stories but Miss Kelly has delivered a well-researched historical fiction/love story with characters I enjoyed immensely. It had me totally engrossed. I intend to follow up with reading more of her books.

My rating 5*

This review is also available via my website www.pam.id.au ( )

This is a moving and engaging story, set in Sydney at the time of the building of the harbour bridge. Eoghan O'Keenan loses his position at Fould's Boots in the depression years and finds the only job he can get is working on the bridge - a dangerous and challenging job, but the only way he can support himself and his young sister. When he meets Olivia, a milliner and dressmaker who is doing well in her shop and has been raised to consider herself above the working classes, Eoghan falls madly in love. But a future with Olivia seems as impossible as the coming together of the two sides of the massive structure going up over the waters of Sydney. This is a really interesting story from an historical perspective, as well as a good love story. It was very much spoiled for me by what I considered unnecessarily bad language from Eoghan, and though the author may have considered it a realistic portrayal of an Irish young man, I found it grated on me and prevents me from recommending it to other readers. ( )

The expanse of the glittering Sydney Harbour, known as The Blue Mile, is not all that separates Eoghan (Yo) O’Keenan and Olivia Greene. An unskilled Irish labourer escaping a poverty stricken, abusive home with his young sister in tow and the daughter of a Viscount and talented costumière making her name in Sydney society, seem an unlikely couple but a chance encounter in the Royal Botanical Gardens forges an unconventional and turbulent romance. Set against a period of great celebration and Depression, Kim Kelly's The Blue Mile is an engaging story of life and love.

Beginning in late 1929, the story of The Blue Mile unfolds through the alternate first person perspectives of Eoghan and Olivia.

Though The Blue Mile is definitely a love story, it is very low key. Olivia and Eoghan's attraction to each other is immediate and mutual, but the couple spend hardly any time alone together over the course of the novel. With the lack of emotional intimacy between the pair I found didn't really feel their connection even though I believed in the issues that divided them, including their differences in class, wealth and faith.

What I really loved about this story was the historical background to the novel, which is well integrated into the story. Set during the latter construction period of the Sydney Harbour Bridge I was fascinated by Yo's experience as a rivet catcher. The building of the 'Coathanger' was an extraordinary feat, taking 1,400 men, six million hand driven rivets and 53,000 tonnes of steel to build the the world's largest steel arch bridge over a period of eight years (1924-1932).
The period was also a time of social unrest in New South Wales due to high levels of unemployment as a result of Britain calling in war loans, and political scandal, when the Premier, Jack Lang, was dismissed from government by the governor-general for his 'socialist' leanings. The economic and political fluctuations of the state have an impact on both Olivia and Yo, though in different ways.

Just days before I read this novel I actually had dinner at The Rag and and Famish, a North Sydney pub mentioned several times in the story, with some fellow book bloggers, and that connection gave me a little thrill each time. Though I liked the protagonists of The Blue Mile, it was the period detail and the physical setting that appealed to me the most. ( )