Another wonderful book by Leonie Kelsall and linking in with her Settlers Bridge series. But it’s fabulous that all these books can be read as stand alones.
In this book we’re taken back to 2008 where Taylor is visiting her Grandparents in Settlers Bridge with her Mum. Her parents have just dropped a bombshell that they are separating and although she is with her Mum to support her, Taylor really wishes she was back in Sydney with her new boyfriend Zac.
On return to Sydney, things don’t as planned with Zac, the family home is being sold, her best friend is going overseas, so Taylor decides to accompany her Mum back to Settlers Bridge and have time out before picking up her Medical Degree in Adelaide.
Before she knows it Taylor starts experiencing some very realistic dreams involving a young woman called Anna who lived in the area over 100 years ago.
Set in two time lines of the 2008 and 1877 the story slips seamlessly through the two time periods. I loved both stories which is unusual for me as I usually become more invested in one side.
Anna’s story is told simply but with much depth and conveys hardship of that era.
Repeat appearances of previous characters appear in the present day story…although my mind was in overdrive trying to work out which book they were in and then remembering that it was still 10 years before the settling of the first novel anyway! But that was my problem alone and I had to let that go.
An entertaining story with heart that I loved.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Allen and Unwin, and the author for the chance to read this book.

Release date upcoming on July 2nd.

There was so much about this book that I loved. The dual timeline, the completely pure love between Anna and Luke, the whacky family members, and of course the happy ending. I felt like I rode a roller-coaster of emotions while reading, starting with exasperation at Taylor's attitude to her parents' separation, although as I got to know her, I forgave her attitude.
I completely fell into Anna's story, and for a portion of the book, I was desperate to get through Taylor's chapters to get back to Anna and Luke. But once their stories intertwined more, I found even more enjoyment in the book. My heart absolutely broke for Anna in the end, but it was sweet the way Taylor's story wrapped it up with a happy ending.

The storytelling of two very different time periods has been done beautifully in the book. A solid 5⭐️

The Homestead in the Eucalypts is a heartbreaking and captivating read that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page 💗

Uni student Taylor Lawrence has it all…Rockstar boyfriend, a fabulous best friend, supportive parents who she still lives with and she’s close to becoming a general practitioner. But her city life gets turned upside down and her heart is broken from multiple sides. She is forced to accompany her mum to seek sanctuary on her grandparents’ farm in the South Australian countryside.

Unsure about life on the land and finishing her degree, she fills lonely nights dreaming of a time long-gone; of a girl called Anna, who, rising at dawn to milk the cow and fetch water from the well, is caught in a bushfire that threatens to leave her reputation in tatters. But she meets the dashing Luke Hartmann as a result and a courtship ensues.

This is where the story starts to move between current day and the past each chapter and it is so very well done! We are swept up in the loneliness and harshness settlers in Australia faced.

Reality begins to blur as Taylor repeatedly escapes into Anna’s world to escape her own. But she realises she must discover whether her dreams are pure fantasy—or if they recount a story more familiar than she could ever imagine.

This is a story of love that spans generations. Of the hardship that settlers faced at the mercy of the harsh Australian landscape. Of moving forward against all odds and of coping with the pressure of expectations in today’s fast paced world.

Leonie Kelsall has outdone herself with this novel. It’s her best work yet in my opinion and I cannot recommend it enough.

When you drive around the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley and it’s full of remnants of the past, a lone chimney in a paddock, a crumbling stone wall and shed, a gnarly old fruit tree or a rose bush that somehow has survived and you know someone once lived here. I wonder who they were, I know their lives would have been full of ups and downs, days of endless chores and toil, battling the elements and harsh Australian climate. Sunday was the only day they didn’t work and went to church, the men would’ve talked about crops and stock and the women had a cup of tea with their peers and a much needed break.

Léonie Kelsall explores this concept in her latest dual timeline story, it’s told from the two main characters points of view Taylor and Anna and set near Kanmantoo in South Australia.

2008. Taylor is studying to be a doctor in Sydney, when she travels with her mum Michelle to South Australia as she wants to check on her parents who live in the Adelaide Hills, and in a small town called Settlers Bridge. Taylor has no idea her life is about to change, her parents are getting a divorce, they plan on selling the family home, the musician she has a crush on is a player and Taylor unsure where she will live and continue studying.

Taylor can’t believe she’s stuck in Settlers Bridge, her grandparents are just as quirky as her mum, she starts having dreams, about German family living in the area over a hundred and thirty years ago, a teenage girl called Anna, and wonders if she’s going crazy or suffering from some sort of mental disorder?

1877. Anna’s family have a small farm near Siedlerbrucke or Settlers Bridge, she milks the cow for her mother in the morning, fetches water from the creek that's just a trickle and makes lots of noise to scare off the snakes, and starts the wood stove. Her father Johann migrated to South Australia from Germany, he sent word home when he's ready to marry and her mother Johanna was his bride. She brought with her trousseau and it was stored in her dowry cabinet and Anna knows if her parents still lived in their homeland her life would be much easier.

Instead it’s full of hard work, flies and droughts, and her father constantly worries about the weather, and having a good crop. When a bushfire breaks out Anna is brave, she fights for own and her sister’s life and afterwards she's concerned her reputation is ruined, she dreads going to church and facing everyone and at a time when a ladies must behave impeccably. Anna doesn’t understand the local men admired her quick thinking and bravery and Luke Hartmann doesn’t see Anna as a fallen woman, and he thinks she’s formidable and beautiful and would make the perfect wife.

I received a copy of The Homestead in the Eucalypts by Léonie Kelsall from Allen & Unwin and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. What an amazing story from Ms. Kelsall, using her own family’s history and idea she and her daughter Taylor discussed and explored, she's written an outstanding and unique novel, I was completely hooked and captivated from the first page, it’s full of unforgettable characters and coincidences.

Remember everyone searches for love, it comes in different forms, I can’t imagine life without it and love is what we exist for and dream about. Five stars from me, I cried my heart out reading The Homestead in the Eucalypts, I made me feel really emotional, a narrative I could relate to and I highly recommend.

It has been a long time since I have read a book that can emotionally move me like this book did. I finished this book 15 minutes ago and emotionally I want to cry, I want to feel relief but I desperately want to go back into the story and keep reading!!! I don't want to leave Taylor or Anna. Normally, I am not a fan of dual timeline books. I feel it is harder for me to invest emotionally with the characters, however, this author has written this story so magically that I didn't want to leave Taylor's timeline, but I desperately needed to know what was happening with Anna. Thank you for this incredible read.

Just when Taylor had found her dream man, her mum decides to go and visit her parents. Taylor doesn’t feel comfortable letting her mum drive all the way from Sydney to Settler’s Bridge. So Taylor decides she’ll go with her and camp.

However, when they get there, Taylor hadn’t envisioned this camping gig to be so hard. And the dreams she’s having are keeping her awake for a long time afterwards.

When they return to Sydney, an upheaval not just in her home life, but romance wise allows her to return to Settler’s Bridge again and try to start afresh in her studies. But those dreams return, as well as the landlord to her grandparents homestead. Now Taylor needs to be able to sort out the fact to fiction of what’s occurring in her life.

A fabulous story of how the first settlers are leaving the legacy of how they survived and bought the future to the now residents of the land.

Loved this story, an intrigueing love story spanning from the 1800's to modern day. Modern day a young lady is, gifted a piece of jewellery, by her grandparents. From this she starts to dream of a family, and their heartaches from the 1800's. She becomes confused, why is she dreaming about this family, whom she knows nothing about, all the while trying to come to terms with her parents, separating. As well trying to figure out why she is having the dreams, she is studying medicine, comes to a conclusion it has to be some form of dejavu. A brilliant story of incorporating past and present, to construct a love story. Enjoyed the descriptions of the area, where the story is based. Outback SA. One could almost smell the wattle with the descriptions. Another beautifully written story. I love the way you gained the background to write the love story. All in all a great book. Keep them coming.