FIRE IN THE ROCK
Rita Stella Galieh
Ark House Press
Many of us ask the question ‘Who am I?’ but none asked with more fervour or intensity than Opalena Kinnear.
When Tom Beecham finds a frightened little girl at the bottom of his isolated dig, he is at a loss to understand who she is, where she has come from and how she could possibly have got there. But his friends Beatrice and Harry Kinnear introduce her to the isolated opal mining community of White Cliffs as their niece — and so Opalena Kinnear is born.
Throughout her life Opalena is haunted by vague but persistent memories and is determined to seek her true identity. As a young adult she develops a close but platonic friendship with serious Pastor Matt Somerville and then she finds her family. She discovers that she has Jewish heritage that her grandmother, Booba, is determined to preserve. She is swept into the centre of Jewish life and faith that Opalena — now Irena — finds appealing. Not least of the appeal lies in the person of flamboyant David Rubin — who is the very opposite of Matt and also a contender for her heart.
In Fire in the Rock, Rita Stella Galieh has captured life in Sydney as well as the outback in 1901 at the time of Federation when the states voted to become a united Australia.
I found the book riveting and enjoyable and read till well past midnight to finish it. My only criticism is of the erratic typesetting from time to time that had the tendency to interrupt the reading flow.
DS
FIRE IN THE ROCK
Rita Stella Galieh
Ark House Press
This is an historical romance, set in Australia at the turn of the last century. It’s well-researched and the story has plenty of twists in it, to keep the romantic engrossed. However, it took too long to get into the story and therefore we lost some connection with the main character. It would have been better to just tell Opalena’s story without the “book ends” from her son. WN
FIRE IN THE ROCK: THE SEARCH BEGINS
Rita Stella Galieh
Ark House
A mother goes back in time to help her son who was badly shell-shocked in the Great War. His background as a war correspondent assists him as he delves into the past. In a generation when there were gender and class strictures governing social interaction, the story is revealed of a naïve young woman and three men who change her life. There’s history, mystery, pain and romance. There’s spiritual searching and complicated choices to be made. A riveting tale of a bygone era - set in suburban Sydney and the opal fields of outback New South Wales. ACLA