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Book Summary and Reviews of Nine Days by Toni Jordan

Nine Days by Toni Jordan

Nine Days

by Toni Jordan

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  • Sep 2013, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

One family. Nine momentous days. An unforgettable novel of love and folly and heartbreak.

It is 1939 and Australia is about to go to war. Deep in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Richmond it is business - your own and everyone else's - as usual. And young Kip Westaway, failed scholar and stablehand, is living the most important day of his life.

Ambitious in scope and structure, triumphantly realised, this is a novel about one family and every family. It is about dreams and fights and sacrifices. And finally, of course, it is - as it must be - about love.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. A small treasure, from the author of the wonderful romantic comedy Addition." - Kirkus

"Jordan elegantly captures the hopes and despairs of three generations of a troubled family, offering a diverting read that will appeal to fans of sophisticated historical fiction and book club members." - Library Journal

"The suspense is frequently nail-biting... beautifully constructed." - Daily Mail (UK)

"Neither previous work could have prepared us for the ambition and achievement of Jordan's brilliant third novel, Nine Days ... a triumph. Another signal career in Australian fiction is well under way." - Australian

"Rare and wonderful ... Each of the nine voices is distinct and brimming with personality and by the finish every part of the jigsaw fits perfectly and you see the whole sweep of this romantic, thoughtful, heartbreaking story." - New Zealand Herald on Sunday

"Jordan is clear that what binds us to one another and to a meaningful life is simply valuing the life you have been given and the family that is yours and yours alone. Reading Nine Days, you will laugh, even cry, but you will be in no doubt that Toni Jordan uses the modern novel to reflect those tensions that exist for many of us between duty and desire." - Australian Book Review

"A brilliant piece of writing...compelling, engaging and will bring tears to the eyes." - Sunday Star Times (New Zealand)

This information about Nine Days was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cloggie Downunder

A brilliant historical read!
Nine Days is the third novel by Australian author Toni Jordan and was inspired by a photograph from the State Library of Victoria’s Argus newspaper collection of war photographs. Starting in pre-war suburban Melbourne, it tells the story of the working-class Westaway family over the following seventy years.

Each of nine characters has a devoted chapter in which they narrate the details of their particular life-changing day: thus Nine Days. As each chapter unfolds, significant details are added to the picture until the reader finally grasps the enormity of events in this family’s wartime experience.

Jordan gives the reader a cast of characters with real depth, characters to love and despise, characters that exasperate, characters to laugh and sympathise with, as each chapter shows events from their perspective. Jordan’s descriptions are strongly evocative of wartime Melbourne and each narrative is invested with an authenticity of language appropriate to that character, giving the story a truly genuine feel. Each narrative is connected not only by the characters but also by other important elements: a lucky shilling, an amethyst pendant, an Arnott’s biscuit tin, twins, art and photography.

The story incorporates various topics, among them poverty and hunger, abortion and contraception, responsibility, gossip and respectability, bravery and patriotism. A wartime story is bound to include death, so of course there is heartache, grief and sorrow, but there is also love and joy and plenty of humour.

I particularly loved the irony of Mrs Hustings stating “it’s a shame the world is so full of gossips”. I would have loved more of Kip, whose dry humour and smart quips had me from page one. Toni Jordan has lost none of the magic of her previous novels, “Addition” and “Fall Girl”, and has, in fact, has surpassed these. What will she do next? I can hardly wait!

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Author Information

Toni Jordan

Toni Jordan has a BSc in physiology and qualifications in marketing and professional writing. Her debut novel, Addition, has been published in sixteen countries and won numerous awards. Jordan lives in Melbourne, Australia.

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