This probably sounds like an odd thing to say, but I think that Sandra Hall's Beyond the Break is more interesting to me now than when it was first published in 2006. That's because in 2006 the book's setting involved the recent past, and many of us would have read it through the lens of our own personal experience of those years.

But reading it now, two decades later... 1959-1964 and 1985 seem like forever ago. There are plenty of adult readers who were not even born in 1985... but more importantly, there have been tectonic changes in the way we perceive relationships. Today we recognise coercive control and gaslighting in toxic relationships, and we can also recognise that one of the characters has a badly treated mental health problem.

Longlisted for the 2007 Miles Franklin award, Sandra Hall's Beyond the Break (2006) has been on the TBR so long (15 years!) that it's out of print.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/10/30/beyond-the-break-2006-by-sandra-hall/ ( )