The Country Wedding in Aussie Readers

Aug 14, 2017 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, contemporary-fiction, own-read, arc, 2017-release, historical-fiction, autographed-book, won, reviewing-by-request

As Hattie watched from a distance, she knew Joe had seen her. His sad and sombre expression mirrored her own heartbreak as she watched the man she knew she’d love forever, marry another…

Many years later Flora Drummond had fled Melbourne to the Atherton Tablelands of Queensland, to the little town of Burralea where she hoped to be able to lie low for a time. Flora’s brother Seth lived in the area with his girlfriend Alice; Seth had recently purchased a property and he had exciting plans for the f ...more

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Aug 05, 2017 Helen rated it it was amazing

MS Hannay has written another story that will engage the reader with characters who are so full of charm, these characters are so real and come to life on the pages they pull you into their lives whether it be in Shanghai around war time or a beautiful country town Burralea in the Tablelands of northern Queensland in 2015. This is our second visit to Burralea and we are back with the Drummond family this time we get to know Flora and we discover Joe and Hattie who are re-united after the discove MS Hannay has written another story that will engage the reader with characters who are so full of charm, these characters are so real and come to life on the pages they pull you into their lives whether it be in Shanghai around war time or a beautiful country town Burralea in the Tablelands of northern Queensland in 2015. This is our second visit to Burralea and we are back with the Drummond family this time we get to know Flora and we discover Joe and Hattie who are re-united after the discovery of bones on a property that is owned now by Flora’s brother Seth. I didn’t want to put this one down so make yourself comfortable and enjoy.

Flora is back home after leaving an abusive partner she is a gifted violinist and is practising for a new position she is staying in town and lying low so to speak but when she is asked to play in a quartet for a very good friend’s wedding she is happy to help but this wedding doesn’t go to plan and this is not the first time that this beautiful little church has seen a betrayal of love and Flora is feeling the grooms heartache you see she has had a crush on Mitch Cavello since she was a young girl and Mitch came to stay on the property she grew up on, so here starts a journey that brings a lot of drama into Flora’s life.

Hattie Bellamy spent her younger years in Shanghai with her very English family exploring the markets and lots of other exciting things but with the war getting closer and fear takes over her widowed mother Rose brings Hattie to Australia to be safe and there she meets Joe Matthews they spend a lot of time growing up on Joe’s parents property Kooringal they fall in love and plan to marry but plans get turned around and Joe marries someone else in the little church in Burralea. Hattie loses her mother Rose and a secret is uncovered and moves to England and gets on with her life but many years later she moves to Brisbane and then the discovery of bones on Kooringal bring her back to Burralea and back to Joe.

There are four people who have a lot to go through to get to their HEA’s and their stories are so moving, emotional and just so captivating this was a book I was really looking forward to after reading The Grazier’s Wife and wow it really is a beauty of a story one that I can highly recommend, I don’t want to give too much away and I hope that I have done this one justice because it is another keeper, one not to be missed thank you MS Hannay you bought me to tears, you made me smile and it will be a while before I stop thinking about Flora, Mitch, Hattie and Joe and the cast of wonderful characters that made this story so very enjoyable. Don’t miss this one.
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Feb 22, 2018 Janine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks

I just enjoy Barbara Hannays books more and more each time I listen to one! The Country Wedding follows on from The Graziers Wife, but could easily be read as a standalone novel. Mitch the local cop is jilted at the altar by his fiancee. Determined to go on he becomes involved in the mysterious finding of bones on his best man's property that was owned for years by Joe. Meanwhile Flora has come home to escape her ex boyfriends violence and is in hiding, but as she is a talented violinist she is ...more

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Apr 25, 2020 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian, aww2020, romance, rural-lit

I really love Barbara Hannay books and I’ve missed a couple over the years. That became obvious when I got a little way into this one and had an inkling that there’d probably been one before this focusing on Flora’s brother so I’m going to have to try and track that one down to read.

I really love dual timelines and this is an excellent example of why. In the current timeline, Flora has returned to near her childhood home to regroup. That means getting reacquainted with Mitch, her teenage crush w I really love Barbara Hannay books and I’ve missed a couple over the years. That became obvious when I got a little way into this one and had an inkling that there’d probably been one before this focusing on Flora’s brother so I’m going to have to try and track that one down to read.

I really love dual timelines and this is an excellent example of why. In the current timeline, Flora has returned to near her childhood home to regroup. That means getting reacquainted with Mitch, her teenage crush who was just jilted at the altar. And in the historical timeline, Hattie watched the man she loved marry someone else and then left Australia after finding out the truth of her parentage. She’s never been back to Burralea until bones are found on Flora’s brother Seth’s new farm. Hattie decides that she needs to go back, face the man she lost and help solve the mystery.

Flora is a violinist who used to play for an orchestra in Melbourne and I loved that part of the story. Classical music is something I became interested in last year so I really enjoy seeing it in books and actually knowing some of the pieces when they get mentioned. As a favour she has to oversee the children’s Christmas concert, which provides a lot of community interaction and gives Flora a chance to foster the same love of music in others that she has herself, the way her own teacher did when she was a child. I really got the small community feel as well, it seemed like a lovely place.

There’s quite a bit going on, with several weddings in different timelines, the impact of WWII in Shanghai China (which isn’t something I’ve read about before) involving wealthy British expats and ‘White Russians’, those who have fled Russia but find themselves classed as ‘stateless’ in China. However everything came together really well, the happenings in Shanghai shaped the reasons people found themselves in Australia. And the story of how the bones came to be where they were placed nicely in connecting things together in the present. It gave two characters an opportunity at a ‘second chance’ as well as providing Mitch with the motivation he needed to change things, after he realised he had gotten stuck in a bit of a rut.

Mitch and Flora are a second chance in a way as well. Mitch suffers a jarring humiliation when his fiancee doesn’t show for their wedding, leaving him standing there in front of most of the town. He and Flora knew each other well as teens, when Flora’s father offered a troubled Mitch work and a place to stay. Flora had a big crush on him and there’s a night none of them talk about…..they’ve had little to do with each other since but Flora’s return to the area and Mitch’s newly single status gives them an opportunity to realise that the spark of chemistry is still there and that maybe this time, it can be explored. There are some complications though, namely Flora’s return to the area is only temporary and that soon she’ll be looking further afield for a new orchestra role.

I always know I’m going to get a really enjoyable story when I pick up a Barbara Hannay book and even with knowing that, she always has the ability to also surprise me, with some added details or an element of the story that is unexpected. For me, it was the Shanghai portion in this book, I found it fascinating. Definitely might have to hunt down something set in Shanghai just prior to the Second World War and explore this a little more. Also really liked both the romances, the way in which the story explored abuse and also how extending an olive branch to a lonely neighbour can open up a whole new world of opportunity. Now I also need to find the book that revolves around Flora’s brother Seth and his new partner.
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Nov 03, 2017 Tanya rated it really liked it

A thoroughly enjoyable read that magnificently weaves multiple strange together. Easy to read, enthralling. An absolute delight to read from beginning to end.

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