Book Review – Hopetoun Wives by Fran Cusworth

Contemporary Women’s Fiction set in Australian Mining Town

May 3, 2009

Three women move to a remote mining town each looking for something. What they find is friendship and the strength to make changes so that they can achieve their dreams.

Set in the Western Australian mining town of Hopetoun, Hopetoun Wives (Michael Joseph, 2009) by Australian author Fran Cusworth is a timely novel exploring the impact of the mineral resources boom on individuals, families and the community of Hopetoun through the experiences of three women.

Hopetoun Wives

Hopetoun, a small coastal town in Western Australia, is transformed by the influx of workers and money brought about by the establishment of a nickel mine. Inspired by the resources boom, workers flock to the town seeking the high wages offered by the mine.

Three Australian women, Miranda, Jasmine and Brigid, move to Hopetoun with their families each hoping to find solutions to personal issues. Miranda, the wife of the mine’s general manager, is hoping to find a sense of purpose that has been missing in her role as a corporate wife and mother in their comfortable London home.

38-year-old Melbourne nightclub manager Jasmine is hoping that by sacrificing her dream job in Sydney to move to Hopetoun with her husband she will be able to save their marriage and maybe fulfil her own dream of starting a family.

After years of living the fly-in, fly-out lifestyle with her husband, Brigid moves to Hopetoun so that her family can be together. She is also hoping that more family time will help her husband reassess his excessive spending habits and start to build a future for his children.

Each woman moves to Hopetoun in search of a new sense of self and a stronger relationship with her partner. What they find is an unexpected friendship, as they support and sustain each other through difficult family issues and the pressures of living in a country town.

A Novel Based on Personal Experience

Fran Cusworth writes from personal experience about the overwhelming impact of the mining boom in the small country town of Hopetoun. She lived in Hopetoun with her geologist husband and two young sons, returning to Melbourne early in 2008.

“Hopetoun is a unique location,” Cusworth states. “I wanted readers to feel a connection with reality, with people and a place that really exist.”

While the location may be real, Cusworth explains that she has not based any characters on local residents or mining families. “The experiences of the three women are drawn from the general experiences of living in a small, isolated town impacted by the resources boom,” she explains, “but if anything, the central characters are probably each reflections of a different part of myself.”

Brigid reflects Cusworth’s maternal side, especially Brigid’s relationship with her younger son Charlie. Jasmine mirrors Cusworth’s own journey from the thriving metropolis of Melbourne to the small isolated mining town and all the culture shock that entails. “In Miranda I most relate to her sense of claustrophobia and trying to adjust to small town life where everyone knows everyone else. Where there is no anonymity.”

Enjoyable Women’s Fiction

Hopetoun Wives highlights both the incredible strength of women as individuals and the strength to be found in friendships and relationships. The insights into the impact of the mine and the associated financial largesse make this novel fascinating as a story of not only individuals but also a community.

Miranda, Jasmine and Brigid are engaging and complex characters, each facing personal struggles that readers will relate to and recognise, particularly the need for self-respect and self-confidence that enables each woman to step out from the expectations of others and the confines of her own insecurities to achieve her dreams.

Hopetoun Wives is an enjoyable story with depth and personality. Cusworth’s debut novel, The Love Child (Penguin, 2006) was well received and readers should look forward to further offerings from this author with anticipation.

The copyright of the article Book Review – Hopetoun Wives by Fran Cusworth in Australian Literature is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish Book Review – Hopetoun Wives by Fran Cusworth in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.