The Light Horseman's Daughter by David Crookes

Just finished reading The Light Horseman's Daughter on my Nook last night. It was a free download from Barnes and Noble a few months ago. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It is the story of Emma McKenna and her family (mother and 2 brothers) during the Great Depression in Australia. After her father dies while the family is being evicted, Emma is left to care for her mother and her two twin brothers all by herself. Emma is a very strong character, doing whatever she can to survive and bring the family back together through multiple hardships. I did like learning about the Australian Great Depression, as I do not know much about Australian history. I liked the way that David Crookes handled the romance scenes with the "fade to black" method reminiscent of old movies.

Spoiler Alert!


I did think that some of the plot was rushed through, such as some of the revelations near the end about parentage and the Mary Wells Society, and I think that most of the character's reactions to them were rather blase. Coltrane was the only one that seemed to really be affected, the other characters didn't seem to care too much, which was surprising given how race was treated in the 30s. Also, I wasn't too fond of the last chapter that said "this person is now..." for every character in the novel. I mean, I understand that he had to tell what happened to everybody, but it just seems like a last second addition. I also wasn't a big fan of Stephen or Bill, neither of them seemed like good matches for Emma, but being a romance, she had to end up with one of them. I also wish we would have learned more about some of the secondary characters like Strickland and Eleanor.

 All in all though, I found the book rather enjoyable, and it was a good story to read to wind down at the end of the day. Rating: 4.5/5