The Whole Bright Year

By: Debra Oswald

Narrated by: Maria Angelico

In the summer of 1976 it's picking season on an Australian stone-fruit orchard run by Celia, a hard-working woman in her early forties. Years ago, when her husband was killed as a bystander in an armed robbery, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter Zoe to this farm for a secure life. Now sixteen, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother's protectiveness, yearning to find intensity and a bit of danger.

Barging into this world as itinerant fruit-pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. The hard-bitten Sheena has kidnapped her wild, ebullient eighteen-year-old brother Kieran and dragged him out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, trouble . . .

How do we protect people we love? How do we bear watching them go out into the perilous world with no guarantee of safety or happiness? What bargains do people make with darkness in order to survive? From the creator of Offspring and author of Useful, The Whole Bright Year is a gripping, wry and tender novel about how holding on too tightly can cost us what we love.

Endearing characters delightfully narrated

I really enjoyed listening to this book - the narrator brought the different characters to life with wonderfully distinctive voices that not only made it immediately clear who was talking, but also rounded out their personalities, adding a layer that's hard to always do for oneself with just the text alone.

The story itself is relatively simple and very easy to follow, so while it's not what I'd call a page-turner, I found myself happily coming back for chapter after chapter.

A lovely read if you're interested in spending time with some endearing Aussie characters.