The Old Balmain House Kindle Edition

I learned a lot about Australia and gained some insight on what they had to deal with. I love historical novels and these were extremely well-written. There are a set of three so be sure to read them all.

Have only read the first segment so far as I am related to Hannah (a third great grandaunt of mine) but look forward to reading the rest. It is sympathetically written in a very readable style. Am an avid fan of historical novels based around fact.Hannah was not actually Scottish and the couple were married in Greenwich, Kent, but that is not important for this style of novel.Now I know the house she lived in which was exciting for meLooking forward to reading about the lost girl!Thanks Graham

This book starts out with a family discovering many things about the history of a home. Family stories interweave & in bits & pieces begging to fill in the blanks of the tale of two missing children. The final resolution is a bit of a surprise so no spoiler from me.Wonderfully written just if you are American you may at first have a little problem following the Australian English.I highly recommend this book.

Sophie was eight years old when she vanished with her best friend Matty. They were seen walking in the opposite direction from home as they left school in the afternoon, but no one saw them after that. It would be one hundred years before the mystery of Sophie and Matty’s disappearance was solved.Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, overlooked the water – the old weatherboard home built by Archibald Rodgers in the mid 1800s for his wife Hannah and their children not long after their arrival from England housed generations of the family. When the old home was purchased in the current day, an old sepia photo of a small girl named Sophie, with her name and dates on the back, along with a perfume bottle were found. The mystery of who she was and the search into her life began…The Old Balmain House is a story by Aussie author Graham Wilson which has a connection to the author. He lived in the old Balmain house for seven years and was compelled to write the novel of Sophie’s disappearance. I’m afraid I couldn’t seem to connect properly with the characters – the book is in need of a good editor and caused the story to be rather disjointed. But the idea and plot is a good one, and once edited would be a good, sound historical mystery. That said, I still recommend The Old Balmain House.

I liked the story and the characters.the family and the loved they lived.it was sad about the children.but it ended well.

Well, I wasn't sure what to think about this story and even thought about not finishing it. But I am so glad I did, it is the telling of a life story and kinda kept me intrigued with what was gonna happen to this family. And the with the disappearance of two small children, I knew I had to finish it. I had to find out what happened and I did.Read and enjoy

Really enjoyed this story. Not so much historical Australian fiction out there. Made me go looking up the area online to see where they were talking about. It was sad and moved a bit quick through the characters at times but I thought it recreated the time period really well. Hard to imagine Sydney with that few people.

A family moves to the village of Balmain, across from Sydney Harbor in Australia. In their lovely old cottage they find a perfume bottle and a picture of a young girl on a shelf in their fireplace. The back of the picture reads 'Sophie 1900-1908.' They learn that she disappeared and was never found.This is the story of three houses and the people who built them and lived in them from the mid-1800s to the present day. Told in a rather quaint and old-fashioned manner, it is a wonderful portrayal of a multi-generational family who lived through good times and bad, but always retained a strong family bond. The growth of this area seen through their eyes is fascinating. And, the mystery of Sophie's disappearance is enough to keep one reading to the end.

I didn't realise a first this was also the writer of the 5 book crocodile dreaming series. It all makes sense now the way this book rolls along painting out the rich history of 19th C settlers carving out lives creating history. A huge amount of information to handle. Highly enjoyable read.

Will read the rest of the books right now. Most enjoyable anda v ery good read. I will download right now

I like reading books about a few generations of the same family and this one didn't disappoint. Thoroughly enjoyed the story, however more attention could have been given to proof reading it perhaps.

This was an intriguing and plausible piece of historical fiction.

I found this book very intersting