A review by thebooktrail88
Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft

5.0

Visit the locations in the novel Under the Golden Sun

What a fascinating and well-told story. I love novels where you iterarlly follow in the footsteps in the characters. In Jenny’s book I started my journey on a ship from Liverpool with Rose and Walter. Rose is accompanying Walter who is a small child being sent to the family he has never met, in Australia. His only guardian in England is now dead and he is an orphan. Kind-hearted Rose applies for the job to go with him but he soon becomes attached. She discovers that his guardian has not exactly been truthful and once they arrive, there is no one there to greet them. They are forced to sleep in a barn close to the house and suspect someone is watching them from the family home. My heart was already breaking for Walter at this point!

The mystery of what is going on and how things will turn out is highly tuned from the start. Walter and Rose are real, living, breathing characters and there’s a whole new cast to get to know in Australia too. Rose and Walter find out about this new family at the same time and as a reader, that really made me feel I was discovering them in the same way as them. I felt like another Rose, concerned for Walter and suspicious of his family.

The family are strange people but each one is set under the spot light at different times, Just what is the truth? Max is the boy’s uncle and works on the ranch. His growing relationship with Rose showed a new layer to him and a higher level of intrigue too. Poor Rose had a lot to sort out and a lot to worry about. On top of this family drama is the fact that war is raging around the world. Australia’s role in WW2 is not one you often read about. Here, it’s the background and the story itself and it was really interesting to see how a small rural community suffered because of it.

The way Walter is treated as he is an Aboriginal child was truly heartbreaking to read about. How can you neglect or disown a child because of their parentage? The author has clearly done some very careful research and it was humbling to learn. Poor Walter! I wanted to give him a hug.

Rose and her budding romance really added an extra layer of interest for me. This was very nicely done and felt very real and a nice addition to the cruelty unravelling outside.

The setting, a remote cnattle ranch in Queensland is felt via every grain of sand, dirt, sunbeam and earthenware pot in the baking sun. The atmosphere and the landscape really is breathtakingly crafted on the page. This author conjures up settings with a pen like no one else and this makes the book highly recommended by me!