An Australian tale set during the 1940’s - 1950’s covering a lot of heavy topics - war, polio, domestic abuse, religion, mental illness, death - but also love, redemption, compassion, strength, resilience.

Told through quite a lot of characters perspectives, there is plenty going on, all woven together with snippets of life in these harsh times of rationing and wartime atrocities. Perhaps because there was a lot of focus on so many characters, I didn’t really bond with any of them, I didn’t understand why they were the way they were. I continued to read in the hopes that I would come to care for them but I didn’t really which is a shame because there’s so much potential.

I enjoyed the story overall (especially the peek in to Australia during those times) but it did drag out a bit and I really wanted to LOVE it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Australia and Harper Collins for the advanced copy for my honest review.

What a surprise was this terrific book! I enjoyed the time and place we're dropped into and the fascinating characters who blossomed on the page into believable, quirky, challenged, sometimes tragic people. This book took me back to my childhood, recognising so many of the ways of life in Australia. Having been to Ballarat many times, it was easy to picture the streets and houses that the characters lived and went about their business in.
Some of the reviewers call it a 'soft' book but I found it gutsy, emotionally compelling, with some outcomes we wouldn't want and sharing tears with the grief and tragedies of those poor people. Hooray for the triumphs! We needed them.
Robbi, you have written a memorable book that I'm honoured to have read as a reviewer. Thanks for the opportunity and all the best for the success you deserve.

The Secret World of Connie Starr takes us through the lives of a group of characters living in Ballarat from the start of the second world war through to the 1950s. It was written beautifully and I felt engaged with characters as they went through the turmoils of the times. I especially enjoyed the early chapters which reflected on the mood of people in the lead up to the second war. Like Sarah Winman's 'Still Life' it is a very character-driven book, with the main drama stemming from wider world events - I did feel the book lost pace towards the middle section, but picked up again in the second half. Robbi Neal's writing offers wonderful insights into the human experience of historical events, and I found the descriptions of events such as the bombing of Darwin and the evacuation of Germans from Czechoslovakia striking. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction or personal dramas.

Set in Ballarat during the late 1930s thru to the early 1950s the book provides an insight into life in an Australian country town during this period of history. The depression, war time rationing, polio, family relationships and small country town community life. There is joy, sadness, hardship and love.

Connie Starr is born to Flora the second wife of her pastor husband, Joseph in Ballarat. Joseph is a good few years older than Flora and has 3 children from his first marriage. Flora does not bond with Connie and seems to have a better relationship with her stepchildren. Connie is not an easy child and she struggles to cope in a very strict religious home. She talks to angels and see demons from up in her lemon tree but the book is not only about Connie it transverses her entire family and the community.

The book does not give the character driven emphasis as the title suggests but it is a great read and will stay with you for many days after reading it.

3.5/5 - ARC courtesy of Harlequin Australia and Netgalley

For fans of Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe and Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones

The Secret World of Connie Starr is a family saga that follows the residents of Ballarat from 1939-1952. It is very focused on the relationships between family members, town members, and those who come from outside the town. It covers classic war time topics of rationing, women taking up work and being able to fend for themselves, famine and disease, xenophobia and small mindedness that often comes with small towns.

This book isn't exactly a novel with a start and an end, but more an insight into a time period in Australian History. It really emphasizes the human relationships that are made during tough times and how important things like love and acceptance can be.

There were a few standout perspectives that I think really made this book great, namely Viola and Flora. I think if the book was more focused on these women I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Connie being the names protagonist of the title seemed like a spoiler because she really only becomes a big part of it by the end of the book, but her story did have some strong themes that were an interesting read.

I can't say I was overly attached to all the characters however, mostly because there was so much switching of perspectives that I didn't feel like I could sit and feel with a character before the next perspective appears. The writing, specifically the framing of historical events as the years changed was poetic and beautiful and really added to the setting.

I don't love the title of this book, it's not that it's misleading but it doesn't quite capture what this book has to offer. It isn't a character driven story, in fact it isn't driven by much except time. It also felt like the prose itself was trapped behind the confines of the multiple perspectives. I still have strong images of the lemon tree, the angels and demons iconography, the small town country setting and I simply wanted more, it would have added so much more to the story, especially that of the titular character.

Overall a great Aussie recount of the depression and war times, and a beautiful family saga.

A delightful read of history; so vivid and accurate it awakened my memories. I was transported back to the 1940’s and 50’s. It is easy to forget how different life was such a short time ago.
The characters, so richly portrayed and alive, keep you wanting to know what’s next.

A beautifully written family saga set in Ballarat and covering the time period from 1934 to 1952. I loved that it weaved the stories of four families with historical events. Covering a number of topics such as polio, World War 2, teen pregnancy and lemon trees. I got a real feel for what t was like to live in small, town Australia during the time period it covered.

The characters were complex and flawed, you experienced their joy and heartbreak. I loved the fun, chapter headings and the history involved. A solid story but not the character driven plot I was expecting from the title and synopsis.

Robbi Neal, The Secret World of Connie Starr Harlequin Australia HQ, June 2022.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Robbi Neal has written this book in part to redeem a past that treated a family member with the discrimination and cruelty that was woven into an Australian small-town mentality. She provides no further detail of the offense, perpetrator or victim, so the reader can come to the novel with a mind clear of preconceptions, apart from knowing that person whose real story ended in heart break, in this fictional account gains redemption. Many of the characters have personal flaws, as well as compensatory features. Their stories and personalities demand a thoughtful read to give each character their due. At the same time, the novel proceeds in a simple format in short chapters, with historical events blending with personal stories in a satisfying read.

Connie Starr is born to Flora, the young second wife of a pastor, Joseph. Her youth is an enduring feature of the novel, along side her dedication to her stepchildren and their father, and her disillusion with her own daughter. Connie has a rich imaginary life, an unsatisfactory life in the outside world, as well as being a disruption to the family and a seemingly unwelcome member. She is not a wholly sympathetic character. Her behaviour is perhaps only that of a curious and literal minded child. However, it makes uncomfortable reading at times.

Uncomfortable reading is a phrase that resonated throughout my interaction with this novel. Birdie’s desire to resist happiness is not entirely overcome by the of strength of character she shows when her son is at risk; Flora’s disconnect with Connie cannot be hidden by her undoubted commendable support for her stepchildren and husband; Joseph’s publicly benign behaviour is undermined by his controlling domestic behaviour; Connie’s friendship with Gabe later in life is marred by the author’s portrayal of events in their childhood relationship. For me, the explanation for Gabe’s early unkindness does not sit well, conflicting as it does with concepts around women and men’s relationships today.

Where the novel excels is in describing with such a light touch the social and political events that affect Ballarat where it is set. The Depression which impacts upon Connie’s childhood is seen in terms of her dislike of her second-hand clothing, and homeless people being housed briefly at the rectory. The horror of polio and its traditional treatment is compared with Sister Kenny’s enlightened approach. The war leads to loss of lives of characters that have become familiar but are not dwelt upon to the exclusion of the lives that are to be lived.

I have mixed feelings about Robbie Neal’s novel. I like its Australian flavour, and the author’s desire to develop a positive account about an event that clearly made for an unhappy history. The short chapters provided powerful vignettes of events, characters, and relationships. However, I found it difficult to empathise with any of the characters. Their aspirations and their behaviour never seemed to move beyond the strict confines of their town and its mores. Connie’s angels and their fight with the demons, the conflict between good and bad, and her burgeoning lemon tree present some engaging images, but even they appear confined. I would have liked the angels to fly free and the tree grow heavy with glistening pungent fruit, lifting Connie’s story beyond the confines of a rather inhospitable reality.

I very much enjoyed reading 'The Secret World of Connie Starr'. It covers a gamut: war, polio, trauma, etc. It focuses on the intertwined lives of a number of people coming up to and including the chaotic and horrendous time of World War Two.

It is a beautifully told story of human suffering. Yet during that terrible time it explicates wonderfully how people found love and acceptance.

Connie Starr comes into the world at a chaotic time. She is not your average child. She sees angels and demons and reacts to them. She sees angels in flowing white robes shooting arrows at demons. Some hit the demons, whilst others merely pierce the clouds.

Connie is raised in a rigid religious environment, which she struggles to cope with. As do her other family members.

Even purportedly upright and staid persons struggle with evil within. The darkness sometimes emerges when it’s least expected. We all have both light and darkness within us, as this book demonstrates so well.

This is a beautifully written story that encompasses so many dichotomies: truth and lies, love and hate, brutality and tenderness. Once I started reading it, I found it difficult to put down and I read it over a short period.

I highly recommend this book to others.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reading 'The Secret World of Connie Starr' is an experience that will take a few days to settle in me. It is such an ambitious, original, colourful tapestry composed of many lives intertwined during a period when the sad effects of war, polio, food rationing, trauma, premature death and so on turned personal worlds upside down. The pain and suffering caused by WWII will never be forgotten by those who endured it. For those who lost their loves, lives and families, this era bore tragic twists of fate. The Secret World of Connie Starr clearly demonstrates this and comes across with a setting and time that feels very real when death and life were at odds. Your heart will ache, your eyes will burn with tears as you follow the harrowing experiences of these characters to hell and back. It is a complex story exquisitely told providing a creative portrait of human suffering and how individuals stagger to find purpose, love and acceptance in gruelling times.

From the start, our protagonist Connie Starr comes into the world on a wave of chaos. She is an unusual child with unusual views. She sees angels and demons and her actions are very much influenced by them. Brought up in a strict environment, she and other family members sometimes struggle with the religious views imposed upon them and find ways to compensate. And as we see, even the most upstanding individuals battle evil within. So despite the facades that are worn to hide the truth and shame, darkness still manages to seep out in unguarded moments. Through effective characterisation and plot we learn that appearances can be superficial and do not necessarily reflect the contents of hearts that are capable of carrying both light and darkness.

This is a novel of tragic beauty, of shimmering uniqueness, a tangle of truth and lies, of tenderness and brutality, delicacy and harshness. It is an epic tale that must be read to be appreciated. A novel that will leave your heart and mind seared and softened. And thinking long after the last page. A literary triumph for Robbie Neal. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Au for a review copy.

I'm always interested in reading Australian authors and this was a sweet story spanning the years leading up to and just after WW2 through Connie Starr's life and that of her close family and the family's friends. Connie doesn't really have any except Gabe and Mike who have to bear their own childhood tragedies too. It's a soft story allowing you access to the familiar but lets you into the secrets behind the suburban facades and the unique and troubling mind of Connie

What a great novel that travels through the war years and beyond - starting where I was born in Ballarat, Victoria. I laughed, I cried and thoroughly enjoyed this extremely well written novel. As the description states: "a swirling mass of beauty and darkness, of trauma and family, of love and war and truth and lies - lies that might just undo the protagonist 'Connie' and drive her to a desperate act." Well, it sure was and a story that was very hard to put down. Highly recommended read and well worth five (5) stars. Well done Robbie Neal.