This was a wonderful story by West Australian author Monique Mulligan, set in the fictional town of Blackwood, which is based on a real town in the southwest, she has done a great job of depicting the setting and made me want to take a visit down there soon.
This is a story of tragedy, grief, friendship, love and hope. It is a story about life and how it can be a struggle to go on after a loss and the toll such a loss can take on a marriage.
The characters in Wherever You Go are very real and flawed people who have both good and bad points, just like us. Amy and Matt decide to move to Blackwood after having tried to move on with life for the past three years, they hope the move will give them a fresh start and a chance to work on their marriage. I connected more with Matt throughout the story, I really felt his struggle and my heart cried for him and the strength he had in trying to keep Amy together while not being able to grieve or fall apart himself.
The friendships they make in their new town become very important, filling spaces they weren’t even aware were empty. I really liked the majority of the supporting characters, Bonnie, Irene and young Ashlee, as well as Frank, June and Nick and Devi. I can’t say I took to Sharon or Una at all, but to behave the way they did made me think they must be very unhappy with their own lives.
I loved the idea of the Around the World Supper Club and would love to join one myself, though I definitely wouldn’t be the one cooking. Food is a very important part of the story, it is the way Amy shows the people around her she cares, and the only way she knows to bring people together. I’d visit her Cafe for sure if it actually existed, her food sounded divine and that’s from a non-foodie.
I was fully invested in seeing how the relationship between Matt and Amy played out, and there were a few emotional moments while I was reading.
I look forward to hearing more about these characters in the next Around the World Supper Club novel.
Thanks to the author for a copy of the novel in return for an honest review.
Nearly 3 years ago I read Kim Kelly’s Black Diamonds, an historical fiction novel that is in my top reads of all times. When I heard it was coming out as an audiobook, I was excited, having listened to The Red Earth and The Blue MIle already, I was keen to spend my drive to work and back listening to one of my favourite stories. It certainly didn’t disappoint. At first, I wasn’t sure about the voice actor who played Daniel, he started off reading a bit slowly for me, but he seemed to find his pace better quite quickly and then I was hooked. Both voice actors for Danial and Francine do a fabulous job. This is one thing I really enjoy about Kim Kelly’s audiobooks, that both the main characters get their own voice, this is I guess because the chapters alternate from one character to the other.
Claire's Reads and Reviews 