The Cartographer's Secret
Tea Cooper
Reviewed by Helen
Once again Tea Cooper has taken me on a historical journey to solve a mystery and uncover family secrets that have pulled a family apart, set in The Hunter Valley in 1880 and 1911 we get to know Evie Ludgrove and then Letitia Rawlings, as Letitia sets out on an adventure to search for answers from the past, beautifully written an enthralling story that brings the past to life.
Evie loves living at Yellow Rock, she loves her father and drawing and mapping the area, her father has always been obsessed with the famous explorer DR Ludwig Leichardt and she loves helping where ever she can. Evie is missing her father as he is in Sydney with her sister Miriam, she is working on a map and collating her father’s notes as requested when she finds an advertisement in The Bulletin offering one thousand pound reward for information on Leichardt and Evie is so very determined that she can do this, Evie sets off keeping secrets and not telling her Aunt Olivia about her quest and vanished without a trace.
Lettie lives in Sydney with her parents and her brother, Thorne when a tragedy happens Lettie leaves Sydney and heads to Yellow Rock in the Model T Ford that belonged to her brother, she needs some time to work her life out and come to terms with what has happened she is also there to let Great Aunt Olivia what has happened, but when she gets there she discovers that there is a lot that her mother has never told her. Olivia welcomes her with open arms and is soon telling her about Evie, Lettie is now determined to uncover what happened to Evie thirty years ago with the help of a beautiful map that she has discovered, and now the adventure begins.
This story had me savouring every word wanting to get to end and find out what had happened but not wanting it to end, what a fabulous story words woven together with fact and fiction, characters who are so real and alive on the pages, I almost felt like I was driving along in the motor with Lettie and climbing Yellow Rock and drawing with Evie. There are so many characters in this story to love, Olivia is honest and true to herself whereas Miriam her niece has lived in a totally different world. I loved Evie and Lettie they both showed strength in different ways, Evie Vulnerable and wanting to prove to her father what she could do and Lettie finally found herself in this one, there is a lovely romance and it is an awesome story one that I highly recommend, you won’t want to put this one down so clear some reading time.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher Harlequin Au for my digital ARC to read and review.
5 stars
Published October 28th 2020 by HQ Fiction
