The Limestone Road
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  • Published: 4 March 2025
  • ISBN: 9781760898250
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $34.99
Categories:

The Limestone Road

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
4 Mar 2025
EBook
4 Mar 2025
Audiobook
4 Mar 2025
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From the deserts of Egypt to the rolling hills of South Australia, The Limestone Road is a captivating novel about one soldier's courageous journey 'home'.

In the summer of 1944 returning soldiers Canning Christie and his father Michael arrive in South Australia from the desert sands of North Africa.

Canning carries the trauma of war and a fractured memory of a terrible event, while charismatic Michael resumes his womanising ways, intent on concealing his own secret wound.

Inexplicably drawn to a vineyard on their land, Canning dreams of producing his own wine. And a chance meeting with Grace Huntley, daughter of the local landowner, offers him hope for that future.

But dormant memories keep rising up: his childhood with his mother, the years traversing the interior with his father and his time at the front.

Soon, viniculture becomes an obsession - one he suspects lies in a hazy recollection of a night in battle. To move forward Canning must reconcile the past, even if that means working with Italian POWs and accepting help from an immigrant German . . .

. . . And ultimately taking a stand against his own father, whose increasingly reckless behaviour is threatening to destroy their new life.

'Bears all the hallmarks of a modern Australian classic.' Christine Wells, author of Sisters of the Resistance

'Stirring and authentic. Heartbreaking and uplifting.' Tania Blanchard, author of An Undeniable Voice

'Nicole Alexander's exquisite prose made this book a joy to read.' Lauren Chater, author of The Beauties
  • Published: 4 March 2025
  • ISBN: 9781760898250
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $34.99
Categories:

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 twelve 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, The Last Station. and The Limestone Road Nicole lives in north-west NSW.

portrait photo of Nicole Alexander

Also by Nicole Alexander

Stone Country
The Cedar Tree
The Last Station
An Uncommon Woman
River Run
Wild Lands
The Great Plains
See all

Praise for The Limestone Road

Brilliantly observed, a sensitive portrayal of the father-son bond set against the beautifully rendered backdrop of rural South Australia. The Limestone Road bears all the hallmarks of a modern Australian classic.

Christine Wells author of Sisters of the Resistance

A novel about healing and confronting the truth, about finding the courage to fight for our beliefs, even if it means leaving behind everything we know. Nicole Alexander’s exquisite prose made this book a joy to read.

Lauren Chater, author of The Beauties

Stirring and authentic. Heartbreaking and uplifting. Seamless and elegantly written, a deft weaving of narrative and history which touches the page lightly while delivering its message with brutal force. A beautifully crafted story of the men who went to war and returned home, different.

Tania Blanchard, author of An Undeniable Voice

An intimate and moving portrayal of a father and son returned from the horrors of war. With timeless themes of the true grit it takes to heal, and the true courage needed to leave the past behind, The Limestone Road offers a raw, honest optimism in the journey to start a new life.

Sally Colin-James, author of One Illumined Thread

Discover more

Article
The Making of The Limestone Road by Nicole Alexander

Learn from author Nicole Alexander how family history and the South Australian landscape shape this compelling tale of war, identity, and resilience.

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