Sandie Docker, the bestselling author of The Kookaburra Creek Cafe and The Wattle Island Book Club, returns with another heartwarming story.

Music has always been at the forefront of Sarah’s life and that of her family. Sadly, when an accident leaves her daughter, Melody, seriously injured in a car accident the music is hushed.

When one day Sarah discovers her Grandmother Rosalie’s war correspondence in the attic that had been hidden away for many decades, she believes there may be a way to save her family. They should make a trip to Redgum River for a music retreat.

Redgum River holds many heartbreaking memories for her grandmother. In 1945 she worked as a journalist taking photographs of loved ones for the soldiers in battle. When she started conversing with two brothers at war who had returned to Redgum River her life erupts into confusion. She runs away to never return with her heart full of sadness and heartbreak.

Will Rosalie’s return to Redgum River many years later open the ghosts of the past and secrets kept buried beneath? And will the retreat help to get Melody’s voice back?

This story is told in dual timelines and it took me on a ride of emotions from sorrow, hopefulness to joy.

Sandie Docker’s writing is infallibly full of heart, poignancy and humanity. I was immersed and engaged with the characters and enjoyed the message of love, strength and surety in times of need.

The Redgum River Retreat is a powerful, multigenerational story about hope, love, family and the past connecting to the present perfectly. I highly recommend this beautifully written book.

Reviewed by Bianca Malyan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Australian author, Sandie Docker grew up in Coffs Harbour, and first fell in love with reading when her father introduced her to fantasy books as a teenager. Her love of Women’s Fiction began when she first read Jane Austen for the HSC, but it wasn’t until she was taking a translation course at university that her Mandarin lecturer suggested she might have a knack for writing – a seed of an idea that sat quietly in the back of her mind while she lived overseas and travelled the world.

Now back in Sydney, Sandie writes about love, loss, family and small country towns. Her debut novel, The Kookaburra Creek Café, was released in 2018, The Cottage At Rosella Cove in 2019, the German edition of The Kookaburra Creek Cafe was released in Jan, 2020, The Banksia Bay Beach Shack in 202O, The Wattle Island Book Club in 2021 and her latest book, The Redgum River Retreat, will be released in March, 2023. Sandie is also the founder and director of The Northern Beaches Readers’ Festival.