Review: The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta

The Place on Dalhousie
By Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Ivy Press
Format: eBook
Source: Borrowed

To Sum It Up: Rosie Gennaro and Jimmy Hailler meet during a flood in Queensland, and their brief time together forever changes both their lives. Two years later, Rosie has moved back to Sydney and into the house on Dalhousie Street that her father, Seb, was supposed to renovate for her and her mother, Loredana. Now it’s Rosie’s stepmother, Martha, who occupies that house and whom Rosie has never accepted because Martha and Seb married less than a year after Loredana lost her battle with cancer. Meanwhile, Jimmy has also returned to Sydney and back among the school friends who are like family to him. He’s never been this close to having a family to call his own, though, and it’s Rosie who may be able to help him finally find one.

Review: First, let me say how absolutely wonderful it was to read one of the magnificent Melina Marchetta’s books again. Second, let me say that if you haven’t read any of her books, you need to fix that immediately because you’re missing out on sheer brilliance.

It’s been almost five years since I last read a Marchetta book, and that book was, fittingly, The Piper’s Son, one of two companion novels to The Place on Dalhousie. We first met Jimmy Hailler, one of the latter’s protagonists, back in the equally superb Saving Francesca. Two books later, we still didn’t know what happened to Jimmy, and finally, finally, finally, Marchetta has given us the answer. It turns out that Jimmy has been looking for his family, and this book sees him presented with the chance to truly have one that’s all his, though maybe not in the way he expected.

The Place on Dalhousie also tells the story of Rosie Gennaro, whom Jimmy meets amidst a flood in Queensland. Like Jimmy, Rosie originally hails from Sydney, where too many painful memories drove her to leave. Two years after their short time together in Queensland, Rosie finds herself back in Sydney and back in the titular place on Dalhousie Street. It’s the house her father, Seb, was going to restore for his family. Rosie’s definition of family was never meant to include her stepmother, Martha, whom Seb married eleven months after Rosie lost her mother, Loredana, to cancer. Martha lives downstairs and is considering selling the house, which infuriates Rosie even though Martha has offered to split the money from the sale with her. In Rosie’s mind, Martha has zero right to the home that was supposed to belong to Rosie, Seb, and Loredana. Selling it means losing another part of her parents.

At its core, The Place on Dalhousie is a story about family. Rosie, Jimmy, and Martha all learn that family isn’t limited to one’s parents or siblings but also includes friends and even the family of those friends. Watching the extended family in this book grow and grow as they laugh, fight, and cry together is sure to melt your heart because Marchetta’s writing makes you so invested in these characters’ lives, whether it’s Rosie or Jimmy or Martha or Rosie’s formidable grandmother Eugenia or Martha’s sort-of-boyfriend Ewan’s father, John. And don’t even get me started on how emotional I got whenever the name of a member of the St. Sebastian’s crew from Saving Francesca, where it all began, popped up.

I knew as soon as this book had referenced Game of Thrones and Elvis Costello by the end of Chapter 3 that this was going to be an amazing read. I wasn’t wrong. Sometimes reading a book is like viewing a pleasing landscape painting. You enjoy it in the moment, but it’s not especially memorable. Then you read a book like The Place on Dalhousie in which the characters have been created with the detail of a Renaissance masterpiece that lingers in your mind long after you’ve had the privilege of viewing it. The latter experience is what reading a Melina Marchetta book is like—expert storytelling and unforgettable characters.

All in All: Another stellar novel from Melina Marchetta. While I think you can skate by reading this as a standalone, I highly, highly recommend reading Saving Francesca and The Piper’s Son beforehand to get the most out of The Place on Dalhousie. After reading this, I wanted to reread the previous two companion books to relive their brilliance all over again.