Two women; divided by centuries and continents, united by heartache. An impassioned critique of their societies, and a meditation on the risks of love itself.
They Watched the Stars is the story of two individual women sharing one emotional journey; women divided by centuries and continents but united by their heartaches and hopes.
England, 1860. Scabrous winter reigns. Elizabeth Blackwood, fiercely intelligent yet desperately lonely, wonders if she will ever escape the dominance of her father and the claustrophobia of Victorian society. Moreover, the freedom that she dreams of seems to be located in an impossibly distant land: Australia.
Melbourne, 2010. Summer’s cloying grip descends. Liz Van Buren is also despondent. Sidelined by her rich, indifferent husband and exhausted by competitive motherhood, Liz’s patience - with her marriage, her country, and her whole so-called privileged life – has finally run out. She too longs for solace in the sophistication of a far-away Europe that she has never seen.
A witty, complex, sometimes cruel but overall impassioned analysis of the morals and politics that are holding these women back, this novel combines historical romance, contemporary relationships, and biting cultural critique.
But above all, it considers the risks of pursuing at all costs that most elusive of apparent solutions: true love.