Really well written, Australian story which I highly recommend others. Great plot, characters and writing make this a heartwarming page turner.

.H. Fletcher is one of my favourite novelists. His books are usually large family sagas with sympathetic characters, a wide range of settings and moving love stories. This one is no exception. It tells the tale of mother and daughter Thea and Allison, but it is mostly Thea's story and involves her looking back on her life and attempting to start again after the death of her husband. Although Thea is very much in love with winemaker Peter, she is an ambitious journalist and her career takes her to the Vietnam War where she discovers a dark secret...Allison, a single mother, is struggling to look after the Tasmanian winery but she now has help from a handsome South African.

I found some of this story rather confusing because it jumps between time periods and it has several different settings and characters. However, I enjoyed it but the novel is quite harrowing and a bit unbelievable in one instance.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

J H Fletcher is a new to me author, I had read a lot about this book, great reviews so I thought I might like this one and wow can I say what a book this is, one that grabbed me from the start and pulled me into a dual time line travelling from early days Malaya to worn torn Vietnam tragedy in America and a beautiful vineyard in Tasmania and one that I highly recommend.

We get to know a young Thea Anderson when she is living in Malaya with her parents on a tin farm she is a bright child and eager to learn but life can be hard at times and fleeing the country with Japanese soldiers after her and her mother is something that will stay with her for ever. As the years go by Thea studies to become a journalist and takes up a position with a big newspaper in Australia and becomes a foreign correspondent firstly covering the assignation of President Kennedy in The States and then spends some very dangerous years in Vietnam during the war, but really makes a name for herself with the Americans and gets herself into some dangerous situations to cover stories that she knows need to be highlighted.

Eventually Thea returns to the man she loves in Tasmania Peter Torrance marries him and starts writing books that bring to life the world she lived in while working as a correspondent, and life settles down for her a little, she becomes a mother and continues to write, I loved getting to know Thea and her family J H Fletcher has bought these characters to life on the pages I felt like I was with Thea every step of her journey, I loved her strength and courage that she showed throughout everything that had happened to her.

This is a fast paced story that is beautifully written, the descriptions are fabulous, the characters so real and alive this is a story that should not be missed, it is poignant that had me turning the pages, it is one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

This book was so good, I loved the dual timelines, I probably enjoyed the Vietnam storyline the best, but it was all great. This is the first book by J.H Fletcher I've read and I must remedy that, I really enjoyed the writing and the way he is able to describe things and make me feel like I am completely there and experiencing life along with the characters. It also shows that the media and the way it continually distorts the truth is not a new thing, the way Thea's company tries to manipulate the story she wants to tell to suit the story the government wants told is so spot on for the way things are today also. I enjoyed all the relationships throughout the story, and the way love can be with different people. Though I haven't been to Tasmania, after reading this I kind of feel I've been there, and I would definitely like to visit. I recommend this for lovers of historical fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for a copy in return for an honest review.

Journalist Thea Anderson’s position with the Clarion newspaper in Sydney had been hard-earned – working her way up from a junior, her position had escalated when she’d covered the assassination of President Kennedy, purely by accident. The pictures she’d taken shot her to fame – her next big assignment was as one of the only women to cover the war in Vietnam. Danger and death, fear and horror; they were her constant companions. But it was something she needed to do.

Prior to her assignment in Vietnam, Thea had fallen in love with the enigmatic Peter Torrance, wine maker in her home state of Tasmania. But Peter’s vineyard Keebunna had been in the family for generations – he respected her career and would be there in the valley of blue gums when her assignments were over.

Vietnam kept calling her back and Thea, though fully aware of the dangers, needed to do more for the people who were suffering – the innocent women and children. But could she? And would it be the worst decision she had ever made?

In the Valley of Blue Gums by Aussie author J.H. Fletcher is a fast-paced, action-packed historical novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. Moving back and forth through Thea’s life, from her youngest days with her mother and father in Malaya, through to life in Sydney and Tasmania, and her assignments throughout the world, the woman who courted danger through her love of adventure lived a life of no regrets. An excellent novel, In the Valley of Blue Gums is one I don’t hesitate to recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.