I really wanted to love this book but found it didn't quite stand up to my expectations.

This is mainly the story of Prudence North, a young women who wants to become a working woman but as things change it doesn't always work out as she had planned. In a time when women where there to get married and serve tea she wanted more.

But I found this book didn't really grab me and hold me, it just seemed to go from one drama to the next but didn't have much substance. There where a few twists but at times it was a bit predictable and they didn't have the impact I wanted.

Lastly, I thought the ending just fell flat and wasn't what I would have expected. It was an okay read but not a favourite for me I'm afraid.

Unfortunately, I could not read the book as the font was unreadable and I could not edit it. Therefore, I will give it 3 stars as a middle mark.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Love Darry Fraser books...strong female and charismatic male characters. This would be her best book yet!! Love Prudence and her sense of family whilst trying to find her place in a male dominated world. Her connection with Jasper is heady and unexpected for both of them. Thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who loves Australian fiction with well written characters.

Meticulously researched, which is a hallmark of Darry Fraser’s books, The Prodigal Sister takes readers to 1900’s Melbourne, where we find highly educated Prudence North just returned to her family home for the final weeks of her ailing mother’s life. Prudence, a graduate of St Andrews University in Scotland, where she developed a fascination with forensic science, is reluctant to put her education aside in order to take over the role of nurse housekeeper for her father, a doctor, and her sister Valerie, who suffers from Huntington’s Chorea, the disease that killed her mother. Blackmailed by her father’s friend, Everard Bankston, to spy on a man called Jasper Darke, Prudence finds her life becoming more and more complicated. I loved that Jasper, despite inheriting property from his parents, is very much a man committed to hard work to achieve his goals.
Both Prudence and Jasper are very believable characters. As I read the book I felt as though I was watching them going about their daily lives while Everard Bankston became more and more unbalanced. I loved watching these two fall in love and I loved the no-nonsense way they addressed the problems that befell them. This book was full of twists and surprises and I will definitely be adding it to my keeper shelf.

The Prodigal Sister is a story of betrayal, intrigue, loyalty, and love set in Australia at the turn of the 20th century from Darry Fraser.

Though she was hoping to further study the new science of forensic investigation after completing her Master of Arts in Scotland, Prudence North heeds her father’s request to return home to Melbourne. With the health of both her mother, and younger sister, Valerie, worsening due to Huntingtons Chorea, Prudence is needed to manage the household and support her father, a busy doctor. When family friend, and high ranking police officer Everard Bankston requests an interview with her just a few weeks after her return, Prudence is hopeful of a career opportunity, instead Bankston tells her that her father has been accused of providing illegal abortions, and if Bankston is to stop him from being charged, Prudence must make the acquaintance of a Mr. Jasper Darke, and report on his activities.

There are several intrigues in The Prodigal Sister, including what truth, if any, there is in the accusations levelled at Prudence’s father, who murdered the man found in his clinic, and what Bankston’s interest is in Jasper Darke, but in general the plot is quite busy with secrets, deceptions, and betrayals. Prudence, caught in the middle, struggles to make sense of everything, drawing on the little she knows of forensic investigation, and finding support from an unexpected quarter.

In addition to the mysteries, there is the development of a romance for Prudence, which is complicated by a number of issues, including her belief that she too will develop Huntington’s, of which little is known at the time, except that it runs in families and is always fatal.

Prudence is an appealing heroine, bright, strong and resourceful, though still constrained by the societal expectations of her time. In mourning, subject to blackmail from Bankston, concerned about the health of her sister and her self, and fighting her attraction to Jasper, she is under an extraordinary amount of pressure.

There really is a lot of drama in The Prodigal Sister, and I think overall perhaps a little too much. While Fraser manages it all well, and the various threads converge neatly, the pacing was a little off, and the author’s twists, though clever, didn’t have the impact they could have.

Nevertheless, The Prodigal Sister is an entertaining and engaging work of historical fiction.

This was one of my anticipated reads of 2022, and I was excited to delve in, the premise of the story really intrigued me especially the forensic side of things as it’s something I have always been interested in.

I really enjoyed the writing and loved that as a reader I felt transported back into the past, I could picture the Melbourne surrounds as they would have been. And the unexpected twists certainly kept me hooked.

The only fault, if I can even call it that, was I would have loved for there to have been more about the forensic side things.

Darry Fraser has again written a story that is not only entertaining but informative as we travel back in time to Melbourne 1900 just before federation and we meet the strong and lovely Prudence North a young woman determined to get ahead in life, this was a fabulous story that had me turning th pages as I got to know Prudence, I do hope you will come along for the journey.

Prudence North has just returned from Scotland where she was studying at the university, she now has a degree and hopes to find worthwhile employment in a male dominated world, she is very interested in the modern new forensic science that should enable the police department to correctly discover answers, but for the moment she is concentrating on her mother who is very ill and her younger sister who sadly has the same condition their mother has a debilitating illness Huntington’s Chorea.

Prudence is met soon after her arrival home by a friend of her father Dr Gregory North, a high ranking police officer Everard Bankston and he threatens to have her father charged with illegal practice unless she finds information on a man by the name of Jasper Darke, left with no choice Prudence does her best to find some information not that there seems to be much but she is taken with the handsome stranger.

Things seem to be changing fast for Prudence and she is more worried about her sister as she finds out some truths about Mr Bankston, when a body turns up in her father’s surgery Prudence immediately notices footprints and her knowledge sees her working out how some things have happened but she finds it hard to get anyone to listen to her.

Meanwhile meeting up with an old school friends gets her closer to Mr Jasper Darke and their friendship grows as he steps in and helps her through some trying times and they discover the truth behind Mr Bankston, and has Prudence thinking about her future and that of her sister.

This is such a great story, fast paced with some twists and turns that had me turning the pages, an intriguing story with such awesome characters Prudence is such a strong woman I loved that she was prepared to stand up for her herself through some very hard and trying times and Jasper what a great hero he is through everything that happened.

Darry Fraser has again researched so well and bought this story and the wonderful characters to life on the pages and I would highly recommend this story to anyone who loves a good story.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy to read and review

4.5★s

When Prudence North returned to Melbourne, Australia in 1900, from university in Scotland, she was shocked to see her beloved mother so debilitated. Huntington’s Chorea was a dreadful disease, hereditary, and it terrified her to know that both her sister, Valerie, and she would succumb to it. After they’d buried her mother, just a short time after arriving home, Prudence, her doctor father and Valerie were shattered. And their worry was now for Valerie as the symptoms were fast taking hold.

The Sunday morning Prudence arrived at her father’s clinic, she was shocked to discover a dead man in the consulting room. With first on the scene being her father’s friend, a high-ranking policeman, Prudence was shocked that he didn’t order the constables to take care not to destroy evidence. Prudence’s studies had covered a topic she was very interested in – forensic science – and she was determined to one day work in the area.

Jasper Darke was an enigma and while her instruction was to spy on him, Prudence didn’t feel comfortable doing so. The policeman whom she was to report to, was a strange, arrogant man and she didn’t like him at all. But Mr Darke seemed like a good and honest man – what were the secrets he was hiding? And who murdered the poor man in her father’s clinic?

The Prodigal Sister is another intriguing historical by Aussie author Darry Fraser which I thoroughly enjoyed. There was plenty of mystery and suspense in this one, with well-written characters and set at the turn of the century in a city just coming to life. The Author’s Note at the end was interesting as well. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Prudence North has just returned to Melbourne, she’s been studying at St Andrews University in Scotland and she has an interest in forensic science. In 1900, it’s an exciting new discovery, and everyone’s fingerprints have a unique pattern and she would love to find work in this field and be able to develop her knowledge.

She has another reason for returning home, her mother’s suffering from Huntington’s chorea, her younger sister Valerie is showing signs of the awful disease and her father needs her support. An acquaintance of her father's and a police officer Everard Bankston corners Prudence three weeks after she arrives home, and he threatens her. He believes her father’s involved in illegal medical practices, to keep him silent, he wants Prudence to gather information about a Mr. Jasper Darke, a wealthy landowner and qualified architect.

She locates Mr. Darke's house in Kew, the only person present at the property is a gardener, she feels uncomfortable driving past his house and snooping. Prudence is carrying a heavy burden, she’s trying to juggle a major family crisis, her sister’s rapidly declining health, and she’s worried her father will lose his medical license and income.

Prudence meets Jasper at a party, he’s a handsome man, she’s expecting him to be nasty, and he's not the villain he’s been portrayed to be. Prudence’s family home’s being watched, a man’s found dead in her father’s surgery, she starts to question what her father’s up to, with her knowledge of science she’s determined to solve the crime, and prove her father is innocent of any wrong doing.

I love Darry Fraser’s books and I feel she’s taken her writing and research to a higher level with The Prodigal Sister. The story highlights the limited education and work opportunities women had at the time, most were expected to marry and be happy with carrying out domestic duties and bearing children. Including the new science of forensics, how it could be used to solve crimes and how hereditary diseases were being discovered, and this information made the narrative really interesting.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review, a brilliant Australian historical mystery, and five stars from me.

Darry Fraser is at the top of her game with her latest Australian historical fiction writing. The Prodigal Sister is another wonderful tale to immerse yourself in with a strong female lead in male dominated colonial Australia. I love the fact that in each of her novels, Darry takes her female lead and explores with them at a time when women were on the cusp of acquiring some form of independence. Into this Darry can always be relied upon to weave an intriguing mystery with just the right amount of romance.

When you pick up one of Darry’s books, you know you are in for something special. You not only get a rollicking good yarn but also some exceptional research embedded within the tale that takes it to the next level. This time Darry looks at Huntington’s disease, something that was not well understood in the nineteenth century and the impact on lifestyle for those who suffered from it. She also includes the early days of women in tertiary study with a specific focus on forensic science in assisting police in solving crimes,

‘Don’t come in here, you’ll disturb evidence,’ she cried, holding out her arm.’

Throughout it all, however, Darry continues to provide you with a strong historical setting of the day to day living from a time long passed. Issues of female independence are once more put under the spotlight as Darry gives a little taste of the momentous changes that would ultimately unfold for women. In a time when Aussie authors are making their mark in historical dramas, Darry has done a fabulous job with wonderful storytelling, putting herself right up there with the best in these Australian colonial sagas.

‘It is a man’s world in which you’ve set a course, and you will learn, my dear, that it can’t end well.’

So if you like a good story, women attempting to exert independence, throw in a dashing hero to assist, then this will be the book for you. Life wasn’t easy for women who were often regarded as male property and I admired the many strengths of the lead character, Prudence North.

‘Educated at one of the finest, most respected universities in the world, she had a degree. That was so much more than many men, and yet paid employment, a position with a high level of credibility, was almost non-existent because she was a woman.’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Darry Fraser writes beautiful Australian historical stories that take you right back in time, and makes you feel like are are back there with the characters.

I admire the strength of Prudence North. She has so much going on and so should be falling down in a heap, but she keeps going on.

I also adore her modern mindset, how she is trying to forge her way in the world when every thing is all about the men. I loved how she never backed down, stood up for what she believed and told it like it was

There was a bit of a mystery running through the story and I spent half the time reading waiting for the shoe to drop. It wasn't what I was expecting, and I loved that.

I look forward to what we get from Darry Fraser in the future.

Wow, what an amazing exhilarating historical mystery! This is the seventh book of Darry Fraser’s I have read and although I have loved them all, The Prodigal Sister steps up to a whole new level of nail-biting excitement. It is an exceptional story about identity, determination, passion and privilege.

I admired Prudence North for her strength, modern mindset, intelligence, keen interest in forensic science, her protectiveness of her family, her convictions and zeal for life and ultimately her courage to follow her heart. Being human, she is not perfect, of course, and her greatest weakness is her interest in Mr Darke: an intriguing, handsome character that we are not quite sure is good or bad. I won’t spill the beans because the journey into his identity is a fun and surprising ride.

Needless to say, Prudence is up against many odds. She has arrived home from university studies in Scotland to her mother’s passing and her sister’s illness worsening. She begins to face many enemies and has a number of mysterious encounters. Suspicions arise as she follows clues and tries to separate truth from the lies. As she deals with the questions that surface, she is plunged into more confusion. But her forensic scientific mind guides and helps her to rise above the mist of challenges that she is facing in a male-dominated police world. She has the skill but will her thoroughness and advanced forensic knowledge expose the poor workmanship of the current police force? And then there are strange goings on surrounding her father’s activities. Accusations are pitted towards him by another. Are they just plots of malice or possibly true?

I must mention the delightful interaction between well-named Prudence (the cautious intelligent one) and her old friend Merridy (the bubbly jovial one) who has come into some financial success. She’s a woman who ‘knows things she should not have’ for her time. She is without question a bold character that adds an extra dash of drama and colour to the story but she is also a faithful friend—if not somewhat self-absorbed.

This story on many levels deals with the premise that not everything is as it seems and not everyone is as they appear. Besides our determined heroine, the other women that flank her are also strong associates. Then there’s a handsome gardener and a perilous villain-blackmailer sure to keep you on your toes: if not on the edge of your seat in a cat and mouse chase!

I loved The Prodigal Sister so much from start to finish. It is finely crafted with a well-established setting, racing plot and colourful characters that will keep you enthralled. It is a bona-fide page turner. I found it hard to stop reading once I started. I highly recommend this brilliant Australian mystery set in 1900 Melbourne. It would make a great movie as there is so much tension, suspense and action to keep the camera rolling that a viewer would be glued to the screen! 5 Action-Packed Stars from me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to HQ Australia and Netgalley for a copy to review.

(On The Prodigal Sister's publication date, this review will be posted on Amazon AU.)