9 February 2016

ARCBA Review: Next of Kin by Carol Preston


7 - 11 February
is introducing

Next of Kin
(Rhiza Press, May 2015)

Carol Preston


About the Book:
Fanny Franks was raised to believe in honesty, equality and acceptance, regardless of background or circumstances. When she meets brothers Jack and Jim, she is drawm to them by the alienation and injustice which seems to pervade their lives. She is determined to intervene and help them find happiness, until a trauma in her own life brings discrimination and shame for which she is ill prepared. While she deals with her own struggle she comes to understand what Jim and Jack are going through - and they find where they truly belong.
About the Author

Carol lives in Wollongong with her husband, Neil. She is a psychologist and has a part time private counselling practice, as well as being an author and speaker. Carol enjoys spending time with her children and four grandchildren, as well as bushwalking, gardening and holidaying overseas with her husband. One of her hobbies over many years has been family history research. 


It was this research which started Carol on the journey of writing novels. Her first trilogy is about the Oakes Family; Suzannah’s Gold, Rebecca’s Dream and The Price of Peace, which takes the reader from 1838 when her great great grandmother, Suzannah Casey was transported from Ireland, through to the end of the First World War. Carol’s fourth novel, The Face of Forgiveness, is about two young women who are transported to Australia in 1839. 

Carol has also written the Turning the Tide Series, based on her mother’s family, which begins with the First Fleet of convicts to Australia in 1788. These include Mary’s Guardian, Charlotte’s Angel, Tangled Secrets, and Truly Free. Next of Kin is her ninth novel. For more information about Carol’s books and her other interests she can be contacted on her website: www.carolpreston.com.au, on her Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/writingtoreach or her Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston

My Review

Next of Kin is another of Carol Preston’s historical novels set in the early days of Australia. She covered the convicts in her first books, then moved onto the early free settlers and their relationships with the freed convicts. With Next of Kin, she moves further forward again, to an Australia that is attracting more and more immigration … not all of it desirable.

Her storytelling and writing continue to improve, and while I’d like to say this is her best yet, I’ve already read the sequel and it was even better. So I’ll settle for saying Next of Kin is Carol’s best work to date. There is plenty of issues and conflict, and excellent characters. Well done.

Next of Kin is available via Amazon (Next of Kin) and Light The Dark (Next of Kin).

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