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L'héritière de Jacaranda

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À la mort de Jock Witney, tyran domestique à la tête du plus grand vignoble d'Australie - le domaine de Jacaranda -, sa famille se rend compte que les affaires vont en réalité très mal. Quand un groupe français fait une offre de rachat des plus alléchante, les membres du clan s'entredéchirent.
Cornélia, la veuve de Jock, âgée de 90 ans, refuse catégoriquement de vendre. Elle aimerait convaincre Sophie, sa petite-fille, la prunelle de ses yeux, que la propriété familiale peut être conservée.
Dans ce but, Cornélia l'entraîne à l'autre bout de l'Australie, dans la vallée de Hunter, sur les traces de ses ancêtres. Elle profite de ce voyage pour lui narrer l'épopée familiale.
Du Sussex des années 1830 à l'Australie moderne, Tamara McKinley retrace la vie d'une famille de pionniers, marquée par de lourds secrets, des déchirures et une malédiction... Sophie saura-t-elle la briser pour sauver le domaine ?

450 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

28 people are currently reading
227 people want to read

About the author

Tamara McKinley

56 books134 followers
TAMARA MCKINLEY was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and was forced to come to England with her grandmother to finish her education at an all girls’ boarding school in Sussex. Her childhood experiences and the enduring memories of her amazing grandmother and two extraordinary great-aunts, form the back-bone of her novels which are coloured with the red, green and gold of her beloved Australia.

Having raised her three children in the Eastbourne area she started to write psychological thrillers before returning to her roots in the form of Australian family sagas set against the backdrop of the outback pioneers. She is now household name in Germany where her books go straight into the bestsellers' list with each title selling around 4 million copies. Her books are also popular in Scandinavia, especially Sweden where her first saga, Matilda's Last Waltz was voted the booksellers novel of the year. In her homeland of Australia she is considered by many to be "Britain's Best Kept Secret".

Her eight Aussie sagas to date are published in at least 15 different languages and can be found worldwide.

Tamara now lives and writes on the south coast of England but travels to her homeland every year to promote her work, carry out research and visit her eldest son and her two grandsons.

Psychological Thrillers: Reap the Whirlwind and Queens Flight (Hodder & Stoughton)

Family Sagas: Matilda's Last Waltz (2000), Jacaranda Vines (2001), Windflowers (2002), Summer Lightning (2003), Undercurrents (2004) and Dreamscapes (2005) (Piatkus Books)

Lands Beyond the Sea, the first book of her Oceana trilogy, has been published in hardback and paperback by Hodder Stoughton. A Kingdom For The Brave, the second in the trilogy, was published in hardback in the UK on 6th March 2008.

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5 stars
147 (25%)
4 stars
237 (40%)
3 stars
163 (27%)
2 stars
30 (5%)
1 star
6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
3 reviews
August 17, 2020
Sophie är barnbarn/barn till framgångsrika företagare inom vinbranschen. Familjeföretaget håller på att splittras. Sophie får följa med hennes mormor på en resa in i det förflutna och får henne att rädda familjeföretaget från uppköpning av Fransmännen.
Profile Image for Shelly - The Illustrated Librarian -.
50 reviews3 followers
March 3, 2009
A trashy soap opera of a novel. Fairly entertaining, but trashy.

Family drama abounds in this sweeping story of a family running a winery in Australia. Jock Witney, evil patriarch, is dead. Cordelia, his 90+ year-old widow is trying to keep the family business from being divided and sold off. The business is Jacaranda Vines, the most successful winery in the country.

Jock & Cordelia's children and grandchildren want to sell off the business, take the money and run. They've all had enough of Jock's bullying over the years and want nothing more to do with Jacaranda Vines.

Cordelia sees one hope of keeping the family business together--her granddaughter Sophie. Cordelia and Sophie head out on a driving trip across the outback to a neighboring winery. During the journey, Cordelia imparts the family history to Sophie, going all the way back to the 1800's when the first member of the family came over from England and set the first vines to growing.

The soap opera ensues from there. Family muckraking, romance, natural disasters, secrets, love and hate make up the tale. The author is successful with her descriptions of the countryside, and the scenes of characters fighting the elements are quite thrilling.

Overall, an entertaining, albeit trashy, read.
Profile Image for LaBibliodeCaro.
619 reviews3 followers
February 21, 2020
Si vous aimez les sagas familiales et les lectures dépaysantes dans de beaux et lointains paysages, le roman L’héritière de Jacaranda saura vous plaire. C’est un peu comme un Dallas à l’australienne, avec en plus de nombreux va-et-vient dans le passé pour éclairer les querelles du présent. De la brume anglaise à la chaleur étouffante du bush, l’auteure nous embarque dans une épopée familiale romanesque divertissante et émouvante.

J’aime toujours autant l’univers de Tamara McKinley. Les intrigues sont complexes, les personnages riches et hauts en couleurs. La langue est belle, la traduction fluide et élégante. Globalement, j’ai apprécié cette lecture relativement égale de bout en bout. Il n’y a eu qu’un seul moment de flottement lors d’une révélation du personnage d’Isabelle. Le suspense ménagé est un peu retombé comme un soufflé. Mais heureusement, les vrais secrets familiaux sont dévoilés après et sont à la hauteur des attentes.

Moment de dépaysement garanti !
Profile Image for Karine SIMON.
676 reviews
May 24, 2012
Bon, je le confirme pour moi c'est un 5 étoiles.
Avis aux amateurs des grandes saga familiale, façon Dallas ou Dynastie, riche en personnages variées, aux caractères bien trempés, le dépaysement de l'Australie sauvage de la fin du 19ème siècle et du début du 20ième siècle.

Je pense que je relirai très prochainement un livre de Tamara McKinley pour retrouver son style que j’apprécie fortement.
Profile Image for Mirka.
311 reviews4 followers
October 4, 2024
Sága vinárskej rodiny, ktorej prví členovia prišli do Austrálie z Anglicka a založili vinice, ktoré postupne zveľaďovali, je pútavá a zaujímavá tým, že nám umožňuje nahliadnuť „pod pokrievku“ celého procesu, na konci ktorého je dobré víno a my si ani neuvedomujeme, čo všetko sa za ním skrýva. V príbehu sa prelínajú viaceré dejové línie minulosti aj súčasnosti, postupne sa odkrývajú rodinné tajomstvá a krivdy, dozvedáme sa o nástrahách a problémoch vinohradníctva aj o tom, ako sa s nimi vinohradníci museli vysporiadať, aby vinice mohli odovzdať ďalším generáciám. Kniha je trochu rozvláčna, od začiatku preplnená postavami, v ktorých som mala chvíľu chaos. Inak je to pohodové čítanie.
6 reviews
February 16, 2021
Loved this book. What a gripping story!! I am really enjoying reading work by Tamara McKinley. Love Australian stories & characters & Australian history. So many great stories about our ancestors & their difficulties to be told.
Profile Image for Jess ツ.
106 reviews
October 8, 2019
I nearly loved this one as much as 'The last Waltz of Mathilda' ...which is not a small statement
Profile Image for Peggy F.
151 reviews
July 23, 2023
Australien + Geschichte + Familie + Liebe. Bin bei Tamara McKinley noch nie reingefallen.
Profile Image for Sarah.
191 reviews4 followers
July 29, 2023
I do enjoy a family saga. Great holiday read while I'm in Australia.
Profile Image for Marcella.
91 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2024
Dit is tot nu toe mijn favoriet van de boeken die ik van Tamara McKinley heb gelezen. Prachtig verhaal.
Profile Image for Toni Umar.
533 reviews7 followers
August 17, 2015
There are a lot of characters in this story - but once they were all introduced I was captured. I loved the way the author took the reader from present time to the past - and both times were always a page turner! Three stars is not really enough to score, 3.5 and sometimes a 4 star would be more accurate. Like all good novels I was very sad when I realised I was coming to the end of the story - there was so much more I needed to know. I think I need to read the whole book again - as the characters and their faults and endearing ways remain very much on my mind.
Once more I look forward to reading the other book this author has written. Thank you.
1 review
August 12, 2011
Olipa mielenkiintoisesti kokoonlaitettu tarina viininviljelyksen alusta ja haasteista! Piti jännitystä yllä loppuun saakka.
Profile Image for Octabis.
143 reviews2 followers
July 24, 2012
Still a great book by Tamara McKinley. I love all those great descriptions of Australia's wildest parts
Profile Image for Debra.
797 reviews14 followers
March 20, 2013
A family saga set in Australia. We hear simultaneously the modern-day story of Jacaranda winery and the olden-days story of the family's first settlers in Australia.
Profile Image for Andreea.
41 reviews
May 31, 2013
beautiful...touching...everything you are looking for
Profile Image for Peter Wilson.
86 reviews
January 23, 2014
Always a pleasure to go back in time and a different country to find out how people got by.
17 reviews
Read
December 21, 2009
As an antidote to Dreamtime i'm exploring, even if only in fiction, the Gadia's side of Australia.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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