- ASIN: B09R3N5VV8
- Publisher: Guards Publishing (24 Jan. 2022)
- Language: English
- Print length: 264 pages
- Genre: Financial Thriller
The BookViral Review:
People say money doesn’t grow on trees. Those people never met the Frisbys!
A thrilling novel that explores the limits of inventiveness, and rugged individualism A Secret Family Harvest may be described as a Thriller (it is certainly wired with suspense) yet the tension comes from dehumanizing the impact of money and is equally driven by its characters and plot points.
Yeomans’ writing is fastidious, smart and more than a bit portentous as it probes the house of cards we have come to call the monetary system but readers don’t need to understand a lot about global monetary drivers to follow the story as she re-imagines the classic nuclear family formula but with a sharp sense of irony and a slow-burn narrative to immerse us.
Yes, the concept of growing money on trees is pure fantasy but the idea is far less radical than it posits. Particularly given the momentum of Bitcoin which like Yeomans’ ‘Juniperus Lucre’ trees don’t require a printing press!
Jane gazed at the piles of bills on the table and sighed. “People think life would be easy if money grew on trees. Honestly, they have no idea.”
The principal pleasure of A Secret Family Harvest is in the ensemble of Yeomans’ characters and her ability to trade narrative impact for individual moments of humour and reflection that leaves us much to dwell on.
She doesn’t give us characters who are chintzy supplements to her plot or mechanical pieces that come with conveniently contrived backstories. She sets out to give us a mature family adventure that doesn’t skip over key developments in their journey and in doing so she succeeds in placing The Frisby family in a lingering, rich sense of danger that feels tantalisingly authentic.
Highly original and thoroughly enjoyable A Secret Family Harvest proves a powerful introduction to Yeomans’ novels and is an unreservedly recommended 5 star read.