Bruny by Heather Rose

I read Bruny while considering a trip to Tasmania, and nothing could make a visit more appealing.

I loved reading about the unique landscape and community in the Apple Isle in this novel, however fictional the story might be.

It revolves around a bridge, and explores the great change that an infrastructure project like this can bring to a place that has been so passionately protected in the past.

The Tasmanian community is divided about whether the huge bridge that will bring more visitors to Bruny Island, a place of immense natural beauty.

It is told by a local who has moved overseas and returned on the request of her brother, the state’s premier who is heavily involved in the construction of the bridge.

Of course, it also refers to the broader issue of what we protect, and the price we’ll pay – or be paid – for submitting.

There is politics (which is even palatable for a political cynic like me), personality, family and even a tiny dose of romance in this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

And now I definitely want to lock in a visit to Bruny Island sometime soon.