<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A blend of strengths and weaknesses -- Recommended
Review: Growing up in the bush defined Jewel Bishop's identity. Her father died in car accident when she was six, and her mother's deep grief led to debilitating depression. As a result, she and her mother moved in with an aunt. Later, Jewel topped her law class and won the University Medal, leading her to a position in a prestigious law firm. Jewell is ambitious, hardworking, and strikingly beautiful. Her boss Blair Skinner is delighted with her work, and promises to advance her career, beginning with an introduction to one of the firm's most lucrative clients, Keefe Connellan and Lady Copeland. The introduction has shocking results. Keefe believes that Jewell and her boss have manipulated him and Lady Copeland for nefarious purposes. Lady Copeland admits that Jewell is identical to her at the same age. Jewell's devastated at the suggestion that she was the product of an adulterous affair between her mother and Lady Copeland's son. Questions of identity and motivation leave her reeling in the wake of the stunning discovery. Worse, she finds herself attracted to a man who doesn't believe in her sincerity, half-sister to a woman who resents her, and daughter to a man who doesn't want her. Author Margaret Way paints a brutal, petty world beneath the veneer of sophistication, power and money. The tone is brittle, and has an unfortunate effect of creating a bit too much distance between the characters and the readers. Further, while this heroine didn't ask to be thrust into the glittering tower, she does make things worse at times as she snipes and picks at her half-sister, before admonishing her with a let's-be-friends attitude. As a result, her determined one-upmanship toward her half-sister and her judgmental attitude toward her mother and biological father can grate on the reader's nerves at times. That said; SECRETS OF THE OUTBACK holds some marked strengths. The matriarch of the Copelands is especially appealing with her unconditional love for son and granddaughter even as she acknowledges their faults. Though he plays a small role, Jewel's boss also is breath of fresh air and adds a light note of humor. The distrust of the hero for Jewel's motives likewise plays out nicely, especially as he begins to doubt his earliest assessments. SECRETS OF THE OUTBACK comes recommended.
<< 1 >>
| 
