Reviewed by: Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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Normally I don't enjoy sagas - tales of trouble at t'mill and down t'mine don't tend to appear on my reading list, but I do make an exception for E V Thompson. For one thing, although his characters do get thoroughly put through their paces and have to endure their share of trouble, there is a strong "feel-good" element here and no excess of Job-like sufferings. Emily Boyce is the daughter of a parson and the niece of a peer so hardly the suitable wife for young miner Sam Hooper. She is trapped looking after a cantankerous old father and he seems trapped by his own poverty when the mines fail, so, like many other copper miners, he leaves Cornwall for South Australia where he has an uncle already. With him goes the young widow of his best friend and her infant daughter, and for a time, Emily can only dream of what might have been, but when her father dies, she has the chance to go to Australia too.

E V Thompson's many fans will know that he knows his native Cornwall inside out, and it shows, but this time most of the book takes place Down Under.

Maybe he doesn't know it quite as well but well enough for the purposes of an exciting page-turner encompassing life aboard a large emigrant ship and in small dusty townships, prospecting for gold and mining for copper. I would have liked to find out more about the actual mining and was disappointed that this proved elusive. There are books - invariably by actual Australians - that tell you more about life in 1870s Australia, but nevertheless, this is an entertaining read and is sure to please all who love E V Thompson's books. If you have never read one and are wondering why he is so popular,this is also a good place to start, as it is a standalone novel.