Book Review: The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer

Australian Gothic With Interesting Storytelling Mechanism. The questions mentioned in the description of the book (as it exists now almost two weeks after publication) serve as a way of doing a version of dual-timeline... without actually doing dual-timeline. As someone who reads literally hundreds of books every year for the past decade now, finding books that do something atypical and yet do it very well is always a joy.

The overall story here is also quite strong in its own right, and one far too many of us can relate to in far too many ways. A broken family - on a few levels. A family history not always fully understood. Recovering after a loss. (Which I can relate to even more, to a degree, as my cat was dying as I read this book and we ultimately had to end his suffering shortly after I finished the text and nearly 36 hrs before I finally sat down to write this review.) Discovering the history of people - and even events - you thought you already knew. There's so much here that is, again, really far too common. Or perhaps I've just seen a bit too much of it in my own life.

Yes, this tale is on the longer side - but you're also reading effectively two books through much of it, and when viewed in that light neither book is actually overly long. "Still only counts as one", as Gimli would say, but still, the very nature of the construction of this tale in this manner almost means it has to be a touch longer than usual. Though the counter argument here would be that while unusual in exact mechanism, this is ultimately "just" a dual timeline story, and many authors have created equally compelling - or, perhaps depending on your own tastes, even *more* compelling - such stories in far smaller packages than this. As with all else, your mileage will absolutely vary, but for me, this was a solid length for what is done here and how it is done.

Overall truly a great book, though I do wish it had been published in the US at the same time as Australia and the United Kingdom - but that is an issue with decisions of the publisher(s) and not any actual concern of the tale at hand.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer was originally written on August 2, 2026.