Opening with Australian outback imagery reminiscent of a Kate Grenville novel, Carol Lefevre introduces us to the parched country town of Sugarbag and the residents within. The story is told through Aurora’s eyes, daughter of Esther and William and sister to Michael. Her brother is killed by a lightning strike very early on and the story unfolds as Esther battles with her loss (and the miscarriage of another child). Yet it is Aurora who soldiers on, albeit adrift, eventually finding herself in her father’s homeland of Ireland searching for answers. It is there she meets the teenage Rose who has an equally troubled past and the unlikely duo find solace in one another. If You Were Mine is an engaging read as the reader is seamlessly passed between various characters’ perspectives, absorbing their feelings, thoughts and beliefs. Lefevre captures the mood of both locations on either side of the world perfectly. If You Were Mine is Lefevre’s second novel—the first being Nights in Asylum—and it makes for a good book to take travelling as it deals with themes of transition and belonging. I eagerly await more of her work in the future.

Katie Horner is assistant editor of Bookseller+Publisher

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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