A
Heart This Big by Cheyenne Blue
Ylva
Press, 2019
Nina
and Leigh might as well live on different planets.
Nina
spends her dusty days working at her farm on the edge of Sydney and
caring for her twelve year old daughter Phoebe. Bequeathed to her by
the grandparents who raised her, Banksia Farm is both a beloved haven
and a heavy responsibility. Nina has opened the farm to local kids
and adults, who come to visit, volunteer, meet the animals and enjoy
an experience increasingly rare in their urbanized existence. She
welcomes everyone, but especially those special children who most
need patience, support and connection to the natural world.
Leigh
is the youngest partner in a prestigious downtown Sydney law firm. A
dedicated workaholic who chose the law so she could help people solve
their problems, Leigh wears designer clothing, drives a BMW and lives
in a pricey condo overlooking the harbor. Her social life is as
meticulously ordered as her professional one; her dates with women in
her own class usually involve fancy dinner and wine at an upscale
restaurant, occasionally followed by empty sexual pleasure. Many
nights, though, Leigh spends alone.
Nina’s
and Leigh’s lives collide when a child has accident while riding at
Banksia and his family sues Nina for damages. Nina barges into
Leigh’s well-ordered existence, insisting that, as the best
insurance litigator in the business, Leigh should take on her case
pro bono. Against her better judgment, Leigh agrees, at least
partly because she finds Nina both attractive and admirable.
Leigh’s
first visit to Banksia is a bit of a disaster, but she soon becomes
comfortable in the low-key, low-budget community that Nina has
nurtured. Nina turns out to be equally drawn to her fashionable,
intelligent legal counsel. However, the rules are quite clear;
lawyers may not get emotionally or sexually involved with their
clients.
Romance,
ultimately, is about feeling good. I have to say that A Heart This
Big left me with a warm glow. The story is, like many romances,
fairly predictable (though Ms. Blue does throw in a twist or two),
but the characters and the setting are what’s important in this
novel. Both Nina and Leigh feel solid and real – Nina perhaps a bit
more than Leigh, but that may be partly because Leigh’s world is so
foreign to me. I believed in both their love and their pain. The
minor characters are equally well-drawn – especially the sometimes
surly and angst-ridden pre-teen Phoebe and Grizz, Leigh’s wise and
idiosyncratic paralegal.
Meanwhile,
Banksia Farm is portrayed in such loving detail that I think Ms. Blue
must have a real life model. The contrast between Leigh’s rather
sterile world and the fertile, messy farm environment comes through
strongly. To Leigh’s credit, she doesn’t run away from the dirt,
the physical labor, or the sometimes peculiar folk who frequent the
farm. With gentle Nina’s guidance, she learns to love them.
One
other aspect of this novel made me want to celebrate: the quiet,
unspectacular acceptance of same-sex relationships by every one of
the characters (even the villain). There are barriers to Nina’s and
Leigh’s relationship, but sexual identity is not one of them.
Nobody bats an eyelash when Leigh moves in with Nina. Totally
comfortable, Phoebe gleefully introduces them as her “mums”. The
story includes many straight people, including some warm-hearted male
characters, which I appreciate. This is not a lesbians-only world, as
is the case in some lesbian romance. But it’s a world where people
are free to love whomever they choose – a world we’re hopefully
getting closer to all the time.
Overall,
I very much enjoyed A Heart This Big. It left me feeling as
though I wanted to go out and hug someone.
