Wildflower Hill

By: Kimberley Freeman

Narrated by: Caroline Lee

Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1920s Glasgow, Beattie Blaxland falls pregnant to her married lover Henry just before her nineteenth birthday. Abandoned by her family, Beattie and Henry set sail for a new life in Australia. But life is not about to follow the plan that Beattie had hoped for and fate will play her a cruel hand...

In 2009, London, prima ballerina Lydia Blaxland-Hunter is also discovering that life can also have its ups and downs. Unable to dance again after a fall, Lydia returns home to Australia to recuperate. But on arrival she is presented with some surprising news – her recently deceased and much-loved grandmother Beattie Blaxland has left her Tasmanian property to Lydia. Told through the eyes of a young Beattie Blaxland and a contemporary Lydia Blaxland-Hunter, this is an emotionally charged, seductive tale of self-discovery, secrets and surprises.

©2008 Kimberley Freeman. (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing

Engaging story with great historical points

I bought this on a 4.95 sale, and it was a very good choice. I was getting bogged down in "Bleak House" by Dickens, and this really kept me in the story. I was concerned about the reviewer who likened this to a romance novel, and it did have that element in the final third or fourth of the story. Another reviewer commented on the abrupt ending, and I have to agree. It had something of a feel of the author feeling she had done a great multigenerational story, and that was enough - let the readers make up the conclusion.

This was indeed a great multigenerational story, lots of compelling history about discriminiation against women and aboriginals and the displacements of the second world war. The card game was a great part of it - the most that can be said without a spoiler.

In addition to the conclusion, there were other abrupt points in the narrative, to me, so I would give the story 3.5 stars on those merits except, no question, it was an interesting story and i wanted to listen to it, so it comes up to four. In my magic scoring scheme, a 5 shows up once for every ten 4's, fwiw.

The narrator was excellent. I cannot make judgments on Scottish versus Aussie versus Tasmanian accents, and understand one reviewer felt the Scottish was overdone. But to this midwest US guy, it was all good.

Good book, wrong narrator

Wildflower Hill is an entertaining novel. It has nice plot development using time switches to drop hints about the direction of the story. The characters are well drawn and the pace of the story is fast enough to hold attention, although it is a bit predictable. So, all in all it is a pleasant way to pass a long journey or knitting project.
Unfortunately, some of the novel is set in Scotland and one of the major characters is a Scot. This is unfortunate because the narrator, whom I usually like, can not come close to imitating the Scots accent. This makes those parts difficult to listen to. Thankfully, the Scots dialogue does not dominate the book. I wouldn't have been able to finish it if it had

A place for Life to Flow

What did you love best about Wildflower Hill?

I loved the way the story wove from present to future and back and forth each building on each other

Who was your favorite character and why?

Beattie was my favorite character, she was a normal person, love rules with her no matter who others were, they were not judged by thier skin color but by the inside beauty of those she met. I also the courage of Beattie in the early 20th century in the way she "won"the wildflower hill among other parts of her character.

What does Caroline Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Caroline brought accents to life for the book. Each character had a different voice that I was able to imagine them in my head.

If you could take any character from Wildflower Hill out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Patrick is who I would take out, he seems like the kind of man that I could fall in love with myself.

One of my favorites

Where does Wildflower Hill rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is at least in the top three

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked everything about this book. It's one of those that just keeps pulling you along and you would listen all at once, but it's pretty long. In spite of that, I was thrilled it was long because I didn't want it to end.

A romance novel. Not terrible but not excellent.

The best part of the book is the narration by Caroline Lee. She’s one of my favorites!

If you like romance novels you’ll like this one. The storyline goes back and forth between Bette and Emma, grandmother and granddaughter. Once again it tells the stories of emotionally constipated women who base everything on what they feel as opposed to truths. Feelings are not instructions.

I didn’t want it to end!

Great story, fabulous characters, her writing made me see everything and the storytelling was fabulous. I really didn’t want the story to end and I wanted it to go on and on.

Could not put it down

Over 16 hours long and I finished it in 4 days. The story just pulled me in. Both heart-warming and heart-breaking. And as always, Caroline Lee's narration is superb!

Wonderful story.

Beautifully written and narrated
Intriguing characters and plot development. I couldn't help but feel I belonged there on Wildflower Hill.

I didn't want it to end!

Caroline Lee is my favorite narrator by far so I listen to this book have to listen to her and half because I like the plot. I had never read this author before, but I will absolutely without a doubt read another one or in this case listen to another one. I was never ever ever bored in the story and like the headline says I didn't want it to end. Wonderful book!

So unexpectedly wonderful!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would most definitely recommend this book to a friend. The story was amazing and it balanced the past and present beautifully. I was drawn in immediately and brought to tears several times. This story really, really touched my heart. I loved it!

Any additional comments?

Buy it!! I purchased this Audible book when it was on sale and after having read it, I would have paid FOUR times what I had to listen to it. I was touched by the love of Beattie and Charlie so much. The heartbreak completely pulled at every one of my heart strings. The struggles of being a young mother and working so hard to have the best for Lucy was familiar to me as well.