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  • Published: 16 March 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143786863
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $22.99

The Cedar Tree




Spanning two centuries, Nicole Alexander’s compelling novel is a story of love and faith, destiny and betrayal, in a land as richly diverse as the secrets it keeps.

In the spring of 1949, Stella O’Riain flees her home – a sheep property on the barren edge of the Strzelecki Desert. She leaves behind the graves of her husband Joe and her baby daughter.

With no money and limited options, Stella accepts her brother-in-law Harry’s offer to live at the O’Riain cane farm in the Richmond Valley. There she hopes to get answers to the questions that plague her about her marriage. However Harry refuses to discuss Joe or the family’s secrets, even forbidding her to speak to the owner of the neighbouring property.

Nearly a century earlier in County Tipperary, Irish cousins Brandon and Sean O’Riain also fled their homes – as wanted criminals. By 1867, they are working as cedar-cutters in New South Wales’s lush green Richmond Valley.

But while Brandon embraces the opportunities this new country offers, Sean refuses to let go of the past. And one cousin is about to make a dangerous choice that will have devastating consequences down the generations . . .

  • Published: 16 March 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143786863
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Nicole Alexander

Nicole Alexander has a Master of letters in Creative Writing and her novels, poetry, travel, writing and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, America, Singapore, New Zealand, Germany, Ukraine and Canada.

She is the author of eleven novels: The Bark Cutters, A Changing Land, Absolution Creek, Sunset Ridge, The Great Plains, Wild Lands, River Run, An Uncommon Woman, Stone Country, The Cedar Tree and The Last Station. Nicole lives in north-west NSW.

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Praise for The Cedar Tree

This is a novel full of historical intrigue and fascinating characters.

New Idea

Highly recommended and satisfying. Be prepared for sudden, arresting plot twists. A great rural read.

Weekly Times

Discover more

Video
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox & Helen Oxenbury | Read Aloud by Nicole Alexander

Nicole Alexander, author of THE CEDAR TREE, reads TEN LITTLE FINGERS AND TEN LITTLE TOES by Mem Fox with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury. Find out more: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ten-little-fingers-and-ten-little-toes-9780670072392 #TenLittleFingersandTenLittleToes #MemFox #NicoleAlexander #HelenOxenbury

Article
Crafting The Cedar Tree

Nicole Alexander reflects on creating her outback saga, The Cedar Tree.

Article
The Cedar Tree book club notes

Transport your book club to the Strzelecki Desert, the Richmond Valley and County Tipperary.