Such observances are definitely true for the exemplary rural romance, Wallaby Lane, by phenomenal Australian author, Maya Linnell.
Thirty-three year old Lauren Bickford seems to be living ‘the good life’. She resides in the picture-book perfect town of Penwarra in South Australia, on the Limestone Coast. A town full of “vineyards, quaint shopfronts” and an eclectic assortment of characters that both bring a smile and a frown to one’s face.
Lauren produces the breakfast show on the Rural AM radio station (her alarm goes off at 4.30am) from nearby Mt Gambier, hoping for a highly coveted position as presenter on the show. With long-term breakfast presenter, George Whitehead, vacating the spot, Lauren feels the stars may finally be aligning for her to take George’s place.
Lauren’s best friend, April Lacey, who works at the beautiful winery, Lacewing Estate, believes Lauren has the job in the bag. April exclaims to Lauren, “You’re a shoo-in. You know the region inside and out, and you’ve paid your dues in the producer’s chair”.
Even the town barista who runs a mobile coffee van, Jean Dellacourte, is in Lauren’s corner, telling her after the running of a breakfast show one day, “….everyone loved today’s topics. You’ve got a nose for good stories…..Everyone’s got an opinion on the cost of firewood, especially when the temperature drops and folks are scrambling for a trailer-load of red gum”. (“Lauren’s topic suggestion (of firewood) had attracted calls from across the district” that day.)
However, not everyone in the district is Lauren’s fan. Senior producer for the radio station, the emotionally icy-cold and sarcastic Patrice O’Neill, takes great delight in taking every opportunity to remind Lauren of her failings (at least Patrice’s perception that Lauren possesses these failings).
When station editor, Paul Wanganeen, stoically informs Lauren she has missed out on the promotion, Lauren is ostensibly gutted. It seems her frequent anxiety has clouded her life once again, as she has let her nerves conquer her when doing a stint ‘on air’. As Paul tells her, “….you’re working for the national broadcaster, not a dinky independent station or community radio. Freezing on air is only okay when you’re a junior. They want to see more public speaking experience, more time in the presenter’s chair without any hiccups”.
Adding to Lauren’s woes are her domineering mother, Gabrielle, and opinionated corporate-lawyer sister, Tahnee, both of whom reside in Adelaide.
Things start to look up somewhat for Lauren when she encounters Penwarra’s new forty-two year old policeman, the devilishly dark and handsome Senior Constable Jack Crossley, at the local laundromat one day.
After the two of them strike up a conversation, Jack becomes Lauren’s housesitter (could her pink weatherboard cottage in Petticoat Lane be any cuter?), looking after and rearranging the cupboards (Jack tends towards being OCD, although this is never overly spelt out) and tending to Lauren’s hilarious and affectionate pet galah, Gary.
Jack was a Penwarra local back in the day, so what has brought him back to town? Does it have anything to do with his fragile sister, Clem, and her six year old daughter, Harriet, who live at his grandparents’ old property on the outskirts of town, Sunny Cross Farm? Or has his grandfather, Arthur, who is now residing in a nursing home, brought Jack back to town?
Why is Jack being called out to investigate the old man, Victor Jenkins’, property? What is it about Victor’s home that has the locals signing a petition over? Can Jack help Victor, or find someone who can?
What causes Clem to be sickly at times? Will she ever get to run a cafe, as she dreams of? Will she get back with Harriet’s father?
Is Jack the man of Lauren’s dreams, and is he someone she can open her heart to, even with her ex-boyfriend, Fergus, lurking around town?
Jack has some inner-demons to conquer, but is Lauren worth taking a chance on?
When Lauren and Jack strike up a conversation in the laundromat, we are told that Jack’s Aunt Jean is “the town Cupid, with a dogged determination to match up every singleton in town, but Lauren knew that wasn’t a smart rainy day laundromat conversation topic. At least not with a handsome stranger”.
Will Lauren ever put the thorny Patrice in her place? Will she ever get to be a bona-fide radio presenter, as she so desperately hopes to be?
Can Jack take the wayward teenagers, Sebastian and Cohen, under his wing and show them a better way to live?
Do Jack and Lauren ever get their happily ever after? Or are there forces trying to tear them apart? Can they deal with all their considerable internal and external problems?
Maya has written a novel that exudes intelligence, wisdom and astute observations of the human psyche and condition.
Themes of anxiety, panic attacks, self-punishment, hoarding, post-natal breakdown, family dynamics, friendship, romantic relationships and ambition are all expertly examined.
Bravo Maya! You have so beautifully captured life in an Australian country town. It’s quirkiness, social fabric and the varied and mitigated outlooks of the townsfolk.
You will find yourself cheering for Jack and Lauren, and perhaps even shedding a tear for them.
I loved Wallaby Lane and can’t wait to read whatever Maya (who “writes to a soundtrack of magpies and chickens on a small property in country Victoria, where she lives with her family (and) menagerie of farm animals”) writes next.
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