Book: Identical strangers: a memoir of twins separated and reunited

Summary: Elyse Schein had always known she was adopted, but it wasn't until her mid-thirties while living in Paris that she searched for her biological mother. When Elyse contacted her adoption agency, she was not prepared for the shocking, life-changing news she received: She had an identical twin sister. Elyse was then hit with another bombshell: she and her sister had been separated as infants, and for a time, had been part of a secret study on separated twins.  Paula Bernstein, a married writer and mother living in New York, also knew she was adopted, but had no inclination to find her birth mother. When she answered a call from the adoption agency one spring afternoon, Paula's life suddenly divided into two starkly different periods: the time before and the time after she learned the truth.

As they reunite and take their tentative first steps from strangers to sisters, Paula and Elyse are also left with haunting questions surrounding their origins and their separation. They learn that the study was conducted by a pair of influential psychiatrists associated with a prestigious adoption agency. As they investigate their birth mother's past, Paula and Elyse move closer toward solving the puzzle of their lives.

What I thought: This book was hit and miss. Some great parts and some ordinary. Fascinating story though. I wonder if I have a twin out there...

Book: Outback Heart

Summary: Joanne van Os was just twenty-two when she met Rod Ansell. At twenty-three Rod was already a legend in Australia and around the world, having survived alone for two months without supplies in one of the harshest and most remote parts of northern Australia. To Joanne, Rod was a a genuine hero who could do anything, could make anything out of nothing, told the funniest yarns, had a philosophy on everything. She married him, and they had two beautiful sons who idolised their father. Together they lived the tough life of outback bull catchers and cattle musterers.But as time went on Joanne came to realise that Rod was both a complicated and deeply troubled man. For the sake of her sons she never gave up on Rod, even after their divorce, but just how far he'd gone only became apparent when his life ended in tragedy: out of his mind on drugs, Rod became involved in a shootout in which a young police office was killed. 'How does someone, whose extraordinary story of survival in the wild inspired so many Australians, become a psychotic, drug-crazed gunman?' Joanne asks. Outback Heart captures the Territory life on paper: the dust, the heat, the struggle and the larger-than-life characters. But it's also a deeply moving and powerful story of a love affair and a marriage, and the pain when it all falls apart. It's the story of Rod Ansell, but even more it is Joanne's story, of how a young, naive woman grows up the hard way, and has the most exhilarating and the most heartbreaking times doing it.


What I thought: I really enjoyed this as she grew up just around the corner from me and I went to school with her nephews so I felt like I knew many of the people individually. What a life though. Just amazing. The Territory is just so different from my world...

Book: Valley of the White Gold

Summary: The Half Moon Valley is not easy to farm, nor are its inhabitants easy to know. But the valley produces the best superfine merino wool in the country, and Dan Stafford is its top woolgrower. Dan relies on his capable son, Jim, and his two eye-catching daughters, Bella and Beth, to help run the property. Now he is battling to retain its prize-winning status. When Bella marries and moves away, and the neighbouring property is sold to an outsider, Dan is unnerved. At least Beth seems content to remain on the land. But Dan's new woolclasser, the intriguing Rod Cameron, turns out to be more than Dan bargained for. With Rod on the scene, Dan's status and Beth's future are far from assured.

What I thought: A great country romance with that old fashion feel.