AustLit

'A beautiful novel about two women – a generation apart – thrown together by circumstance, who slowly come to love and understand one another.

'Stella and her mother-in-law Margie are two very different women.

'Stella is kind, compassionate and just a little chaotic. Margie is prickly, demanding and a stickler for convention. Stella has exciting dreams for the future. Margie has only bitter memories of the past.

'When Margie needs help recovering from a major operation, Stella offers her a place to stay. With no other options, Margie returns to the family farm where for decades, until Stella’s arrival, she was the one in charge.

'Margie has never made life easy for her daughter-in-law, and that’s not going to change now she’s been made a guest in her former home.

'But as the dry summer turns to a beautiful autumn, the two women gradually form an unlikely bond, as the ambitions, secrets, and tragedies that have shaped their lives are slowly uncovered...' (Publication summary)

'Blueberry is a heart-warming debut novel about starting over, as a little blueberry orchard in the hills offers one woman the chance to change her life forever . . .

'Greer O’Reilly needs to start over. Her professional success belies private sadness and domestic overload. She’s torn between her career and motherhood. Her partner of twelve years has left her. And up ahead is her new home - a beautiful though neglected blueberry orchard in the hills of north-east Victoria.

'But when she and her six-year-old daughter Sophie arrive at the property to take possession, there’s an unforeseen complication - the former owner, 81-year-old artist and jazz lover Charlie Chandler, refuses to move out. Charlie is dying and desperate to spend his last days in his old home.

'With Greer at the beginning of her new life, and Charlie at the end of his, the unlikely pair soon form a close bond. One that will offer the strength and inspiration Greer needs – because the next twelve months will either make or break her . . . ' (Publication summary)