Publisher's Synopsis
Journey through the colonies of nineteenth-century Australia with three standalone novels of love, loss, survival and redemption.
Collection includes:
One of Us Buried
In 1806, a fateful decision sends Eleanor Marling from the salons of London to a prison ship bound for New South Wales. She is put to work at the female factory of Parramatta, where the women's only hope of food and lodgings is to offer their bodies to the settlement's men.
Nell is given shelter by Lieutenant Blackwell, a brooding soldier to whom she is inexplicably drawn. Despite warnings from the other women, Blackwell's motives seem decent, and beneath the roof of a military officer, Nell sees a chance to become more than just a convict woman sent to the factory to be forgotten. But tensions are high in New South Wales, with the young colony on the verge of a convict rebellion. And as Nell treads a dangerous line between obedience and power, she learns the role of a factory lass is to remain silent - or face a walk to the gallows.
Forgotten Places
English settler Grace Ashwell flees an abusive lover in Hobart Town, with six-year-old Violet in tow. Deep in the wilderness, they find a crude hut inhabited by Alexander Dalton, an escaped convict long presumed dead. Hiding from civilisation in an attempt to forget his horrifying past, Alexander struggles to let Grace into his world.
When Violet disappears, Grace's fragile trust in Alexander is put to the test. And while she searches for answers, he will do anything to keep his secrets inside.
Playing the Ghost
For Lucy Earnshaw and her husband Tom, their arrival on the goldfields of Australia is marred by unimaginable grief. In the wake of her loss, and a failing marriage, Lucy is drawn into a world of theatre and spiritualism - and into the path of dashing young playwright Will Browning.
Her new obsession leads Lucy into the dark underbelly of the goldfields, where murder and thieving is rife, and no one can be trusted. And as she seeks happiness on the fringes of society, Lucy finds herself entangled in a web of lies and corruption - one she may never escape from.
