April 2017 - The Dry by Jane Harper

The Dry by Jane Harper is one of those debut novels which came out of nowhere and generated a whole lot of hype. It is richly deserved. This book is easy to read and the plot line is fairly simple, but almost all of us were drawn into the story. For Anna this was a real departure from what she usually reads, but she surprised herself by how much she enjoyed it.

There are plenty of sites out there that provide a summary of the plot, so I won't rehash it here. Needless to say we could all visualize the township of Kiewarra and its inhabitants. The power of Harper's writing is in its descriptions. We discussed the fact that possibly only Australians would truly understand how big an impact the ongoing dry would have on this little country town, and how easy it would be for the residents to believe the worst of Luke Halder. This small town also has its share of secrets, current and past and explores the nature of trust.

Scores:
Alison    9
Anna     10
Annette  8
Carmel   7
Glenda   7
Kristy     8
Megan    5

Average: 7.7