Title: Isobel’s Promise
Author: Maggie Christensen
Published: August 2nd 2018
Publisher: Cala Publishing
Pages: 312
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
RRP: $4.12 (e book) $12.99 paperback
Rating: 4 stars
A promise for the future. A threat from the past. Can Bel find happiness?
Back in Sydney after her aunt’s death, sixty-five year-old Bel Davison is making plans to sell up her home and business and return to Scotland where she has promised to spend the rest of her life with the enigmatic Scotsman with whom she’s found love.
But the reappearance of her ex-husband combined with other unexpected drawbacks turns her life into chaos. As a result, she begins to have doubts about the wisdom of her promise.
In Scotland, Matt Reid has no such doubts and he longs for Bel’s return.
But when an unexpected turn of events leads him to question Bel’s sincerity, Matt decides to take a drastic step – the result of which he could never have foreseen.
Can this midlife couple find happiness in the face of the challenges life has thrown at them?
Review:
‘It was a typical dreich Scottish day’. So begins the return journey with Isobel ‘Bel’ Davison, as we reconnect with her following the turn of events in Maggie Christensen’s previous novel, The Good Sister. Although Isobel’s Promise does intersect with the happenings of Isobel’s Promise, it is a strong novel with contemporary themes that can be read in isolation of its predecessor. In Isobel’s Promise, matters of the heart are high up on the agenda, along with the complexities of modern family life and life commitments. I very much enjoyed being reunited with both the writing of Maggie Christensen and her engaging character set from The Good Sister.
Isobel’s Promise is about the plans we make for our future and how our past can come to haunt us at a time when we are searching for happiness in the latter stages of our life. Bel Davison, the central protagonist of Isobel’s Promise, is a mature age lead. Bel has high hopes of making a go of things in her birthplace of Scotland, with her new love, Matt. However, Bel has a life in Australia to wrap up, including a home and business. She makes a promise to herself and Matt that she will return to Scotland by Christmas, once all her affairs in Australia are sorted. When Bel arrives back in Sydney, her life takes a difficult turn. She must deal with the sudden appearance of her ex husband, contend with business employee difficulties and sell her home. Meanwhile, Matt sits waiting patiently in Scotland. It soon appears that holding a long term relationship on opposite sides of the world is incredibly difficult. Added to the mix are problems caused by Matt’s daughter. Matt is faced with only one decision, it is a tough one that may make or break this couple and their chance at happiness.
Maggie Christensen’s writing is like a nice warm cup of tea. It is warm, nourishing, comforting and embracing. The Good Sister, the book that Isobel’s Promise follows on from was one of my favourite reads last year, so to catch up with Isobel, one of the prime characters from this book, was a welcome experience. Isobel’s Promise proved to be touching and emotionally charged read.
There is a nice even pace to Isobel’s Promise, the momentum continues from the previous story, but the approach Maggie Christensen takes to this book ensures that new readers to her work never feel out of the loop. For me, the pages of this book seemed to turn themselves and before I knew it, I found myself at the close of the book contemplating all that had happened to Bel and Matt, the leads of this story.
Christensen has worked some great plotting into Isobel’s Promise. There were a number of surprises, twists, turns and difficult binds for the main characters, as well as the minor characters that feature in this story to negotiate. It does make them stronger for the experience, which I always appreciate when I grow to care about a set of characters. I will say that there are some questionable decisions and moves being made in this novel, which adds substance to the tale. There were a few smaller scale villains in this tale that really shake things up! I found by the end of the novel, I lost all care for a few of them, I wish they would crawl back into their holes and stay there!
What really worked for me story wise in this novel was the contrast in setting. This is where Maggie Christensen truly shines. She contrasts the dreary skies, green hills and fresh air of Scotland, to the sunny sparkling sands of Australia. I loved a passage in particular that highlights the breathtaking beauty of one of our icons, the Sydney Opera House.
Bel stopped for a moment, her eyes moving slowly across the stretch of water, the city lights reflected in its glassy surface. Then she looked up at the soaring white shell-like sails of the Opera House mimicking the sails down below and glistening in the moonlight.
The scenery is simply stunning, whether it be in Australia or Scotland and Christensen ensures that the sense of place is always strong in her novel. Christensen also uses this setting based thread as an opportunity to explore what it means to call somewhere home and the difficult bind one faces in closing off one life for another, on opposites end of the globe. I was satisfied by the end of Bel and Matt’s journey, it was an eventful reading experience.
Maggie Christensen has made it her priority to give a voice to the mature age woman and their experiences in both love and life. This is explored to a high degree in Isobel’s Promise, where we are privy to the pressures of family, past relationships, difficult friendships and winding up careers, which all come into play when settling on a happy ever after late in life. Christensen’s approach is considerate and authentic, proving she is one of the best in the field in the category of mature age Australian women’s fiction.
Readers will be pleased with this offering from Maggie Christensen, especially if you enjoy books written from a mature age perspective that draws on life experiences, difficult decisions, emotions and heartache. Hope, self belief , happiness and the value of life are the positive parting messages of Isobel’s Promise, leaving you with a spring in your step once the final page has been turned.
Isobel’s Promise by Maggie Christensen was published on August 2nd 2018 by Cala Publishing. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.
For more information on Maggie Christensen, check out her website here.
*I wish to thank the author, Maggie Christensen, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Isobel’s Promise is book #146 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge
