Bittersweet

Colleen McCullough is back in rare form with her latest novel, Bittersweet (#433).  In it, she tells the story of four Australian sisters just after the end of World War I.  What makes the Latimer sisters unusual is that they are twins, only twenty months apart.  Living under the thumb of Maude, the Reverend Thomas Latimer's second wife, the girls are anxious to escape the household slavery of living at home by embarking on careers of their own.  In 1920's Australia, a new path is opening for women - becoming a registered nurse.  Their father's influence on the local hospital board is sufficient to win Edda, Grace, Kitty and Tufts places in the pioneering nursing program.  Not all of the girls make it through the rigorous program of study, and their ultimate fates could not be more different.

Ms. McCullough takes the reader to some unexpected places and situations in this engrossing book.  It could so easily have become yet another beautiful girl meets rich man who marries her and takes her away from it all -  times four.  The miracle is that at doesn't, and what happens in this novel is so much more interesting.  Not all the twins' stories are happy, but they do all call upon their inner strengths to survive and thrive where they land. 

I found it a thoroughly satisfying read, and an interesting window on a period in Australian history I had never thought about before - the struggle to throw off the taint of the English class system (which they still seem to be dealing with to some extent when I visited a couple of years ago!) and the enormous economic and political upheaval caused by the Great Depression which affected Australia almost more severely than any other country.

In fact, the one thing I did not like about this book was the cover art.  I know I haven't mentioned this in any of my posts for awhile, but I found the photo of generic flapper used on the cover so very off-putting, I actually considered covering the book with a temporary brown paper cover while I was reading it.  As I got into the book, I found it even more disturbing that the photo bore absolutely no relationship to the contents of the book.  It's not a story about one sister; it's most definitely an ensemble cast of characters here, and the concentration is on their personal and professional achievements, not their clothing.  Don't make the mistake of judging this book by its cover.  Consider its author and you'll be rewarded by a "romance" with more substance than most.  Recommended.