Tea Cooper
Reviewed by Helen
Tea Cooper is a fabulous story teller and this book was beautifully written, a wonderful read with rich and engaging characters, I got to know Michael and Elizabeth so well, I felt their emotions as we journeyed from England to Australia in times that were tough and exciting a time of change, this is a captivating story that had me turning the pages.
The late 1860’s and a young Michal O’Cuinn is emigrating with his young sister Elizabeth to Australia to meet up with his parents, things don’t turn out as planned and Michael leaves Elizabeth in Sydney while he travels to the gold mining town of Hill End in New South Wales, the news is not good when he gets there but Michael is determined to give all he has to make a future for him and Elizabeth, he finally brings her to Hill End where she grows and learns so much and together they work hard and move onto Maitland.
It is now 1913 and Michael and Elizabeth are very successful business owners in Maitland, they are generous people and well liked they take on a young orphan Jane Piper (I loved Jane) who is mathematically gifted and the three get on very well running the auction house, until an exhibition of paintings by an English artist comes to town and Elizabeth has a turn or a dilemma and finds herself not acting normally, Michael is determined to help his beloved sister but he must also confess a secret and gets Jane who is ever logical to help solve the mystery. The mystery thickens is there a link to the paintings?
I don’t want to give too much away, I highly recommend that you read this one, MS Cooper has taken me on a trip back in time, the setting and descriptions are so good and along with Michael, Elizabeth and Jane there are other characters that add a lot to this story, the reality of Hill End and the beauty of Maitland were so well done, this one had me racing to the end of the book I really needed to know the outcome of the mystery, I loved the ending lots of smiles from me. I loved this one, you have done it again MS Cooper, you rock fabulous story, don’t miss this one.
The late 1860’s and a young Michal O’Cuinn is emigrating with his young sister Elizabeth to Australia to meet up with his parents, things don’t turn out as planned and Michael leaves Elizabeth in Sydney while he travels to the gold mining town of Hill End in New South Wales, the news is not good when he gets there but Michael is determined to give all he has to make a future for him and Elizabeth, he finally brings her to Hill End where she grows and learns so much and together they work hard and move onto Maitland.
It is now 1913 and Michael and Elizabeth are very successful business owners in Maitland, they are generous people and well liked they take on a young orphan Jane Piper (I loved Jane) who is mathematically gifted and the three get on very well running the auction house, until an exhibition of paintings by an English artist comes to town and Elizabeth has a turn or a dilemma and finds herself not acting normally, Michael is determined to help his beloved sister but he must also confess a secret and gets Jane who is ever logical to help solve the mystery. The mystery thickens is there a link to the paintings?
I don’t want to give too much away, I highly recommend that you read this one, MS Cooper has taken me on a trip back in time, the setting and descriptions are so good and along with Michael, Elizabeth and Jane there are other characters that add a lot to this story, the reality of Hill End and the beauty of Maitland were so well done, this one had me racing to the end of the book I really needed to know the outcome of the mystery, I loved the ending lots of smiles from me. I loved this one, you have done it again MS Cooper, you rock fabulous story, don’t miss this one.
5 stars
Published December 16th 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
