For anybody who has ever tangled with hardship, heartache, pride, love, pain, losses, joy and sorrow, this book is for you. Seven years later I can remember almost every single thing about this novel, that is how much it stuck with me, the writing was magnificent and elegant, the plot- riveting and tantalising, the characters, enigmatic, engaging and all too powerful for their own good.
One of my all time favourite novels, taking me on an incomparable emotional journey that will leave the reader feeling cathartic and de constructed, this is not a novel of happy endings, nor is it a melancholy Dickensian piece or a romantic novel, but one which transcends all realms and can only really be described as a vessel for the reader to be transported into the very vestibules of human nature.
It explores the manners in which people will go to any extents to accomplish their goals, even if it means obliterating their supposed loved ones in the process, the reader can almost physically perceive the precariousness in which the most powerful human emotions can blend and bleed within each other, how love can all too often accommodate hate and intolerance, and ambition is all to easily the bedfellow of cruelty and ruthlessness. Get ready to have your heart in your throat for much of this novel, and don't expect much reconciliation or even karma, this is the cold harsh, unkind reality of life.

This is a great story in terms of plot, but I confess that I didn't like it as much as I wanted to as the writing wasn't always strong and some of the characters were so awful that they became caracatures. Jessica is a tomboy growing up in rural Australia. Her mother pins all the family's hopes for an advantageous marriage on her refined, beautiful sister, while Jessica is content to help her father with the shearing and ride around with her best mate Jack. Jessica stands up for the local outcast when he murders the awful station masters wife and daughters, and becomes pregnant to an unknown father, later revealed to be station owner son Jack. Meanwhile, cold and calculating Mum conspires to trick jack into marrying the sister on false pretences, and later steals Jessica's baby and has her committed to a mental institution. Jessica is repeatedly struck by misfortune, but manages to befriend and charm all sorts of people - a Jewish butcher, an alcoholic lawyer, local aboriginal women. A great yarn, but not my type of thing.

Could not put this book down

One of my favourite ever novels. Jessica is such a survivor. This is a sad and endearing work of Australian fiction….beautifully written and inspiring.

If I could put a couple more stars on this one, I would. This is my all time favorite book! Courtenay can truly capture the grit and soul of a woman.

5/5 ⭐



This book.... THIS BOOK. This book was heartbreaking. This book was a masterpiece. This book was painful. And this book, this bloody book, kept me reading for so long I couldn't put it down.

" 'Come, Jessie,' you said. 'Come and walk in the moonlight with me.' "

Jessica by Bryce Courtenay is an absolute masterpiece. It follows the life story of Jessica, a tomboy who lives in New South Wales, Australia, with the book starting around 1900. It is about her fight against injustices and her love of the land, which, as the reader, I grew to love as well.

Courtenay brought me through so many emotions. The highs, the lows, everything was so amazing. I absolutely loved all of the characters, their relationships between everyone and how it painted the story was absolutely outstanding. I could go on about this book for so long, but I think you get the point.

Jessica broke me. I was sobbing for ages. But that's what made it so so good. I would definitely suggest to anyone to read it.

You won't regret it. I know I don't.

Must admit to having enjoyed all of Bryce Courtney books that have come my way and Jessica has been no exception. The author maintains the capacity to capture an image of the history of the times with just enough detail and sensitivity to provide a realistic account while providing an easy to absorb novel. The story is reputed to be based on a true story , something which on a couple of occasions I had to remind myself of when the reality’s seemed to become a bit too convenient or bizarre. Truth can be stranger than fiction but I think a little bit of poetic license came into play at times. Whichever is largely irrelevant as I really enjoyed the book and have found myself rethinking about the tale at times since.

This was my first attempt at Australian fiction and I was very pleasantly surprised! I’m Australian myself and never felt the need to read about an author’s impression of life in the outback until I moved to WA and developed an appreciation of the unique landscape Australia has to offer, which is so accurately and colourfully described in Jessica. The first book was a little slow and I felt as though I was hearing an older white man mansplaining feminism and women’s rights in a very repetitive and disjointed tone, however I was intrigued enough in the story to continue. The second book really drew me in and the character development was incredible. The third book reverted back to some level of frustration, with the lengthy and somewhat condescending explanation of indigenous rights through the dialogue between characters, which I found very hard to believe would have been so enlightened back in war time Australia. However, the overall story was a riveting one and the fact that it was based on true events is heartbreaking. Would have been a 5 star read if not for the tedious, condescending and repetitive feminist and indigenous rights soliloquies.

Yet again Bryce Courtenay has told a long saga that completely swept me away. This one is based on the true story of Jessica Bergman. She grows up in a hard scrabble land and time fulfilling the role of an Australian sheep ranch son. This gender non confirming behavior is daring and not generally appreciated by her peers and elders. At the same time with an older father and non contributing mother and older sister, Jessica's work is necessary to keep the family going. She learns persistence, bush justice, and a kinship for the outliers of society. She is no saint but extremely brave. I don't know if I could fight the battles that she did. This book should be a show. I strongly encourage others to give this book and this author a try.

There are three “books” within this story, which covers the life of the titular hero (heroine?) Jessica. Each feels quite different in terms of story, the quality of the writing and the overall enjoyment level.

By far the most enjoyable to read is the first book, which covers the origins of the Bergman family, and Jessica’s early years growing up as what can only be described as a tomboy on a NSW rural farm. There’s a clear split in the family lines between Jessica and her father on one side, and her mum and sister on the other. You get deep into Jessica’s values, experiences and thoughts on how the world works, and she’s a great central character.

We get to meet a wider range of characters including Jack, son of the local landowner and Billy, a worker on the farm. The clear strong bond between Jessica and Jack is set up early. A tragic accident which results in severe brain injuries for Billy leads through to an even more tragic series of events towards the end of the first book. This doesn't work out well for Billy.

Without giving away too much of the storyline, this part of the story could have gone in a very different direction. It felt set-up to be a different story, but all the characters seemed to accept the “obvious” version of what happens. You expect there to be a surprise, or a twist, and there isn’t.

Which then leads into the second book, which to be honest is as bad as the first book is good. Sometimes authors like to imagine the worst that can happen to a character, and then do it. Here it feels like the author tried to imagine the worst, then paused to think how to make it even worse, and then kept repeating the terrible things until it couldn’t get any worse.

Tragic circumstances are one thing, but the repeated misfortunes of Jessica in the second book make for miserable reading. It’s like getting punched in the face repeatedly. You have to make some pretty incredible leaps of faith to believe what happens. The mother in particular does some awful things, and literally gets away with murder. There’s little or no relief until you hit book three.

There’s a bit of redemption in book three, as with some new-found “friends” Jessica sets out to right some wrongs of the past, in particular supporting an aboriginal mother to reclaim custody of her children. It’s a relief after the middle section, not as good as the first section, but definitely better.

There’s enough in this book, particularly in the first section to make it worth reading, but that miserable middle and a lot of unresolved plot lines towards the end of the story make it feel a bit messy overall.

Ok I want to start out by saying this book was gifted during a Christmas book exchange between friends and I was given the forewarning that this book has an old writing style. Seeing as this book was written in the late 90's I could definitely see the style differences but I put that aside. I also think it helped being an Australian and understanding most of the unusual words and pronunciation's of words or phrases (and I say most because there were still some references that didn't make sense).

This book really presents some interesting challenges throughout the story and being my first historical fiction that I've read, although based on a true story, I was really intrigued by what was happening. I definitely think the fact that there is some topics that I can relate back to history as I know it made it a lot easier for me to connect with the book.

I think if you can get past the unusual writing style and some out dated terminology then it's definitely worth a read.

I read this book years ago and could only remember bits and pieces but did remember I loved it. It was nominated by my bookclub for January so I decided I’d read it again. So glad I did!!! What a beautiful but also heartbreaking story. Jessica is a young lady anyone should be proud to know. I thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around as well. Often an emotional read but well worth it.