Kitty, Carolan, Catherine... tres generaciones de mujeres bellas, inteligentes e indomables, unidas por la pasión y la desdicha, por los amores tempestuosos y las situaciones difíciles.

“Beyond the Blue Mountains” is almost like a trilogy compressed into a single volume. It’s an ambitious novel in that it covers a long period of history, following the lives of several characters, including three heroines.

Of the three main settings, I preferred that of the English countryside, which takes up roughly the first third of the book. I liked all the characters in this section. The author does a great job in bringing them to life.

I was disappointed only that when the book switches settings, many of the characters do not reappear, thus the reader does not learn of their fate.

The second third of the book, set in London, is good in the most part but at times it “veers off track” somehow. But, just as I felt the engaging storyline was becoming static, a scene occurs that gives the piece new life.

The final third of the book is set in Australia. Like the London episodes, this is up and down, unlike the engaging scenes in the first third of the novel. I feel some heavier editing would’ve offered a smoother read. There’re several instances of repeated info and such like that could’ve been cut.

Overall, I really liked this tale and would’ve given it five stars had the London and Australia scenes been as consistently good as those set in the country. ( )