Red Sand Sunrise by Fiona McArthur

I was given this book for Christmas in 2014. It took me until March to get to it, but once I had turned the first page I could not put it down.

It was not the characters so much...they were all nice enough and real enough and I liked being with them. What captured me most was the concept. Set in remote Queensland outback town of Red Sand, the death of the local publican becomes the catalyst for something quite extraordinary. The landscape is vast, the people are genuine and the need for woman's services is being felt. It took a philanthropic visionary to make it happen, but the very fabulous force to be reckoned with, Blanche McKay, ensured the woman of the outback had the services they deserved.

As I said it was not the characters so much, but the concepts in this book that captured me. I loved the way Fiona McArthur deals with the expected death of one of the characters. In a matter of fact way this character accepted her illness and decides to let it take it's course. A beautiful and dignified death, happening along side the main story.

I loved the way Fiona McArthur addresses maternity care. She brings obstetrics and midwifery together, with General Practise to create an holistic woman-centred case by case approach to care.

Fiona McArthur is a midwife. She brings her knowledge into this story, weaving it into her characters and showing the possibilities of maternity care. The birth stories within are insightful and all the better because of the experience the author writes from.

I enjoyed this story, as it intertwined death, birth and various believable personalities.

Rating: 3/5
Published: 2014

#Australian
#Fiction
#Women





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