Widow Marcella Ross won’t let anything – or anyone – stop her from discovering the truth behind a deadly family mystery… Mystery and romance collide in this compulsive historical adventure from a bestselling Australian author.
1898, South Australia. At the gateway to the Flinders Ranges lies Kanyaka Station, once a thriving sheep and cattle property, now abandoned and in ruins. But a discovery in her late mother’s papers draws recently widowed Marcella Ross out to its remote landscape in search of clues to the disappearance of her Uncle Luca, an Italian immigrant whose fate seems to have been bound up in that of his mysterious partner – also long-since vanished. When Marcella is nearly run over by a handsome stranger, she discovers he too is entangled in the secrets of the past. When tragedy and obsession threaten Marcella’s fragile independence, how far will she have to go to unlock the secrets of Kanyaka – or solve the puzzle of her own future?
1955. After learning that they are unlikely to have children, Frances and Joe MacDonald have taken the unusual step of buying a caravan and travelling together through the outback. They stop and camp at Kanyaka Station, where Fran becomes mesmerised by the past. Family lore holds that an ancestor met an untimely end amid the desolate ruins. But what truly happened, and to whom, at the isolated station? As fate alters the course of her life, Fran’s footsteps echo another woman’s from so long ago…
As the mystery unravels, will these two women have the chance to take control of their own destinies?
With The Last Truehart, The Good Woman of Renmark and Elsa Goody Bushranger, Darry Fraser has become one of Australia’s leading historical novelists, delivering great historical adventures. She is incredibly popular with the BR community, and both new and old readers are going to love this latest book.
The Forthright Woman has all Fraser’s trademark characteristics: strong female protagonists, polished, elegant prose, a sizzling romance and a cracking premise. However, this time, there’s a dual timeline, switching between 1898 and 1955, bringing multiple layers to this read. While I felt deeply for Frances in 1955, dealing with the prospect of being childless and her difficult husband, I adored Marcella. Darry writes such compelling characters from the colonial era, and Marcella is no different.
The December release date for this book is perfect – grab a copy and read it over the summer break. Darry Fraser never fails to deliver a great story, and The Forthright Woman is her best yet.
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