'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Monday 11 February 2019

Review: The Inheritance

Fourteen year old Veronica Mitchell, called Nic, is dumped at her grandad’s remote homestead at Yaratgil, her mother’s childhood home. 

Melbourne and internet access are now a memory, and it appears so will be, her travelling musician father that left her there. With no TV or phone connection, and miles away from the nearest town, Nic is isolated and alone in every sense.

Barely a word passes between Nic and grumpy grandad who forbids her to roam the house. 

With this silent rhythm of life, and discovering that her mother is buried in the paddock behind the house, Nic struggles to find a way to go about her life. 

When she discovers the Mitchells are  in Yaratgil for reasons that no one will discuss with her, she feels totally lost.

She searches the empty and forbidden areas of the homestead on a day when grandad is away, for information about her mother who died when she was born. In a room full of plants growing up through the floor, she discovers some stones that open a portal into the past. Her unknown inherited ability to time travel exposes many family secrets that will set her world spinning. She also uncovers the shocking happenings connected to the Aboriginal people of the land and the horrific crimes perpetrated by the European settlers against them.

Nic’s time travel opens up portals of information about her lineage and immediate family. This leads to a metamorphosis. She comes to Yaratgil a lonely and frightened, seemingly abandoned child with too many secrets withheld from her, and emerges a person whose future and inheritance promises knowledge and the power to shift perception concerning the true historical facts of their land.

Carole Wilkinson, author of the fantastic and mystical Dragonkeeper series, has created a novel full of tension and heart wrenching revelations. Based on true events from the dark history of Australia’s settlement, the story is beautifully presented in varying time stages that float through the storyline. The novel addresses the ignored parts of our Australian history in a subtle and informative way.

Wilkinson has a gift for historical narrative and her ability to weave the past with the present results in an astonishing book that deserves attention. With a strong and resilient female protagonist and other secondary female characters that enter and exit to strengthen the scenes through their dialogue, this excellent novel will be read in one sitting.

Title: Inheritance
Author: Carole Wilkinson
Publisher: Walker Books, $17.99
Publication Date: September 2018
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760650360
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction