A Voice to Be Heard by Dell Brand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Travel back to the 1800's to a time when society was ruled by men, and women were window dressing. A Voice to be Heard starts with a young girl, Florence who is well educated, which is not common for that era. Yet she is seduced and becomes pregnant by the Lord of the house's son, only to be held in high regard by the Lord, who takes care of her and her twin daughters for the rest of his life. Within days, grandfather is killed in a freak carriage accident and mother dies after and run-in with her seducer. The twins go to their grandfather's lawyer with a plan, he having heard all about the intelligence and education that grandfather and mother imparted on them. The lawyer is more than happy to help and sets plans into action, within a month the girls are on a boat to Australia. Despite all society conventions,the girls proceed on their own, and buy a house, build another, turn the first into a hotel, and thus an empire is created. Along the way, each twin runs into problems with men. Joey falls for a married man, has his child, but never tells him about it and lets Maddy raise her as her own. Maddy marries a thug who hides his true intentions from her until after their marriage. He drains their bank account and beats up Maddy, only to later try to rape Joey and get knocked over the head and killed. Happier times and sadder times follow, just as in life. Dell Brand does a wonderful job making you feel like you are really living in Melbourne in the 1840's.
A Voice to be Heard is an inspirational read to any woman, allowing them to realize that they can accomplish whatever they want, no matter what society says. It won't be easy, there will be hurdles and bad times, but good times too, you just have to stay focused. Dell Brand cover a long period of time, from the early 1800's when Florence is young, to the 1850's after the death of Thomas, the twins father. It's truly a family saga, although it does skip huge parts of time, which of course you would have to, to cover the length of time it does. I enjoyed Joey's drive to be held under no ones thumb, to be her own person and to build this empire for her family. Maddy is more the romantic of the two and craves marriage and children. Yet for all Joey's strength, one man can still bring her crumbling, her first and only love. She never stops loving him. Overall the family saga, historical nature of the story first drew me in, but the characters kept me there until the end. It had me wishing I could have been there, almost. I couldn't handle the fashion!
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