Author: Rachael Johns
ISBN: 9781489261519
Copy courtesy of Harper Collins Australia
Just One Wish is a fabulous novel of family love, sorrow, secrets, betrayal and heartbreak.
This story is set in Melbourne Victoria and brought to life by 3 generations. This book is through the eyes of granddaughter Geraldine (Ged) and also involves her grandmother Alice, whom she calls Gralice and her mother Sappho (Marie). A secret kept for over 50 years changes the dynamic of this close loving and family.
Alice was turning eighty and during her celebration she surprised Ged and Marie with tickets for a girls cruise to reconnect as a family. Gralice and Sappho didn’t always see eye to eye and Sappho was resentful of her upbringing. Ged on many occasions found herself stuck in the middle of her mother and grandmothers. On the cruise that was meant to bring them all closer together a hidden fifty year secret and betrayal tear them apart.
The book shows the complexity in all families and the ups and downs of life and how we overcome them. The book is filled with sadness, laughter, joy and warmth. You will be caught up in pregnancy and paternity tests, lesbian tendencies, secret lovers, scandal, illness, adultery, estrangement and regret.
Racheal Johns has written another brilliant novel which I highly recommend.
Thank you HarperCollins Publishers Australia and B&L for the opportunity to read and review.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading Just One Wish. You can read their comments below, or contribute to the discussion by leaving your own feedback.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.