Audio Download
9780143792352
March 1, 2018
Penguin Random House Australia Audio
Trade Paperback
9780143789642
February 26, 2018
Bantam Australia
400 pages
EBook
9780143789659
February 26, 2018
Random House Australia
400 pages
Chapter 1
From the deck of the SS Oceanic, Maisie Porter looked down on the wharf. The bugle sounded, signalling that all guests should curtail their farewells and go ashore. Her father had already averted his face and was walking away.
This is it, then, she thought. As she watched him vanish in the distance she could not say if he would miss her. She hoped so but in her heart she doubted it. Over the week before setting sail, Maisie had felt she was being edged towards a precipice, that her days with her family were counting down like the number of nights until Christmas Day. And now here she was, off to Australia. The bugle sounded again, and the ship slid into the stream.
Her mother hadn’t bothered to see her off. Up until the last moment she had wondered if her mother might have made the effort, if only for the pleasure of seeing her go, to give the final shove that propelled her over the cliff edge, permanently out of view.
A few weeks ago, Maisie hadn’t even known her cousin Maitland existed. Now she was on her way to marry him.
Continue ReadingRoxane Dhand on discovering the rocky history of Broome’s pearl-fishing industry.