Tea Cooper
Reviewed by Helen
MS Cooper honestly you rock, what an amazing story, you had me glued to this book as I travelled back in time to 1853 and 1918, Sydney and around the Hawkesbury region, the settings are so beautiful and I truly felt I was back in these eras, as we meet some wonderful characters with personalities that shine, this is a story not to be missed.
We meet Fleur Richards in a London Tea Shop, it is 1918 and the war has just ended, Fleur is working hard and waiting for her Australian husband Hugh Richards to come back safely so as they can start their lives in Australia only Hugh is killed in action and Fleur has inherited land and wealth like she has never known. Fleur is not convinced that Hugh is dead and travels to Sydney to find information and someone that deserves the inheritance more than her, but what she finds is a mystery in an old boarded up shop.
Della Atterton lives in 1853, she is heartbroken at the loss of her dear parents, her aunt Cordelia packs her off to the family farm in the beautiful Hawkesbury region, and Cordelia takes over the shop in Sydney, Della continues on with her father’s taxidermy profession, in the country and she is very close to the Aboriginal people, but worries over what is happening to them. When a stranger arrives Captain Stefan Von Richter looking for a precious opal, some happenings make Della to return to the shop in Sydney and her Aunt and here she discovers unexpected and odd happenings.
Fleur does a lot of investigating to uncover what she has found hidden in the old Curio shop, this unravels a bizarre past from her husband’s family of cover ups and an opal that is causing a lot of bad luck. I loved this story so much, it is beautifully written, the characters in both eras are so real, and it felt like I was walking beside Della and then later Fleur, this is a must read for anyone who loves a bit of mystery, some taxidermy and to discover how the colour green was kept so green, I learnt a lot of interesting things in this book thank you MS Cooper, awesome story.
5/5 stars
Published
December 17th 2018
by HarperCollins
