The Tying of Threads (63 page)

Spanning two momentous decades and capturing rural Australia’s complex and mysterious heart,
Pearl in a Cage
is an unputdownable novel by one of our most talented storytellers . . .

It is 1939 and Jenny Morrison, distraught and just fifteen years of age, has fled the tiny logging community of Woody Creek for a new life in the big smoke.

But four months later she is back – wiser, with an expensive new wardrobe, and bearing another dark secret . . .

She takes refuge with Gertrude, her dependable granny and Woody Creek’s indomitable midwife, and settles into a routine in the ever-expanding and chaotic household.

But can she ever put the trauma of her past behind her and realise her dream of becoming a famous singer? Or is she doomed to follow in the footsteps of her tragic and mysterious mother?

Spanning a momentous wartime decade and filled with the joys and heartaches of life in rural Australia,
Thorn on the Rose
is the spellbinding sequel to
Pearl in a Cage.

In
Moth to the Flame
, Joy Dettman returns with another dazzling tale of the unforgettable characters of Woody Creek.

The year is 1946. The war ended five months ago. Jim Hooper, Jenny Morrison’s only love, was lost to that war. And if not for Jenny, he would never have gone.

‘An eye for an eye,’
Vern Hooper says. An unforgiving man, Vern wants custody of Jenny’s son, his only grandson, and is quietly planning his day in court.

Then Jenny’s father Archie Foote swoops back into town. Archie offers Jenny a tantalising chance at fame and fortune; one way or another he is determined to play a part in her life.

Is Jenny’s luck about to change, or is she drawn to trouble like a moth is drawn to the flame?

The wind is whispering in Woody Creek . . . Change is in the air

It’s 1958 and Woody Creek is being dragged – kicking and screaming – into the swinging sixties.

Cara and Georgie are now young women but, raised separately, they have never met. They’ve both inherited their mother’s hands, but that’s where their similarity ends.

Despite a teenage mistake looming over Cara’s future, she still believes in the white wedding and happily ever after myth. Georgie, however, has seen enough of marriage and motherhood, and plans to live her life independent of a man.

But once the sisters are drawn into each other’s lives, long-buried secrets are bound to be unearthed, the dramatic consequences of which no-one could have predicted . . .

‘Dettman is an effortless, assured and accessible storyteller’ THE SATURDAY AGE

‘You can’t fail to enjoy this portrait of Australian rural life . . . with its many sorrows, joys and challenges’ WOMAN’S DAY

The old timber town of Woody Creek has a way of getting under people’s skin . . .

Woody Creek is preparing for its centenary celebrations – but for many of its townspeople it’s just another reminder of the old days, before so-called progress roared through the town, altering everything in its wake.

Not for Georgie though. As the clock ticks over to 1970, she’s determined that the new decade will be the one that sees her finally break free.

For Cara, Woody Creek will forever be tied to a devastating mistake that cannot be undone. She’s vowed never to set foot in the place again.

Meanwhile, Jenny’s estranged son, Jim, has inherited an estate in the United Kingdom and is trying to make a new life for himself. If only he could shake off his one terrible attachment to Australia.

As Woody Creek draws Joy Dettman’s much-loved cast of characters back into its grip, confessions, discoveries and truths seem certain to explode in the most shocking of showdowns . . .

‘An adept storyteller. Reading one of her books is like sitting at the kitchen table with a cuppa while she recounts a tale of family secrets and small-town survival, usually with a dark and surprising twist’ THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

‘You can’t fail to enjoy this portrait of rural Australian life . . . with its many sorrows, joys and challenges’ WOMAN’S DAY

Ann Burton was born on a river bank the night her father tried to burn their house down.

Six years later her sister Liza disappears while they are staying at their uncle’s property. What Ann sees that day robs her of her memory and her speech.

A stroke of unexpected humanity releases Ann from her world of silence, and she escapes her anguished childhood, finding love and a new life away from Mallawindy.

But there is no escape from the Burton family and its dark secrets. Ann must return to Mallawindy and confront the past if she is ever to be set free.

‘We ride the crests and troughs of the Burtons’ 30-year history with open mouths and saucer eyes . . . Dettman is an adept storyteller’ THE AGE

‘A highly competent and confident debut novel’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘A compelling story, well told . . . it holds promise of further enthralling fiction from its author’ CANBERRA TIMES

‘A stunning debut; a rich and engrossing read; a tale of page-turning suspense and mystery; a postmortem of family ties; all this and more,
Mallawindy
will grab you hook, line and sinker’ QUEENSLAND TIMES

For forty-four years Stella Templeton has been a dutiful daughter and a good citizen, living in Maidenville, population 2,800, a town where nothing happens. Until one hot summer afternoon . . .

An ugly act has lifted the respectable skirts of Maidenville and mystery starts to surround the daughter of the local minister. Then the disappearance of a sixteen-year-old boy adds to the neighbourhood’s confusion. Does something sinister lurk behind the neatly trimmed hedges and white picket fences that divide this sleepy town?

No one comes close to knowing the horrifying truth – but after forty-four years of self denial and duty, Stella Templeton is finally beginning to blossom.

From the best-selling author of
Mallawindy
, comes a tale of dark secrets, shameful lies and unexpected salvation.

Sally De Rooze is almost thirty. She has survived the accident that killed her father and brothers. Her mother never forgave her for that. But she survived her mother too. Surviving is what she does best.

Farmer Ross Bertram, who offers her his acres and safety, is the answer for a while. Until he starts pushing for a wedding. Sally wants . . . wants more. Wants to know great love. Wants to find herself. One year. That’s what she wants. One year of freedom in the big, bad city.

Her survival skills are tested in the urban sprawl and she discovers more about herself than she had ever dared to imagine.

From the bestselling author of
Mallawindy
and
Jacaranda Blue
, comes a moving story about being set free.

‘. . . a can’t-put-it down story’ NW

‘Goose Girl is not just a story to read about – it’s one to think about’ THE EXAMINER

‘Dettman knows how to tell a story’ THE SUNDAY AGE

Only the strong survive Mallawindy. Some get away, but even they fight to escape the town’s dark legacy.

Jack Burton escaped. For six years he has been missing, presumed dead. Still, memories of him continue to dominate the lives of his family.

His wife, Ellie, stands at the gate each night, waiting for him to return – until a man’s body is found.

Once again, the Burtons’ turbulent history will be unearthed . . .

‘At the heart of this absorbing tale . . . is the writer’s ability to interweave the country-town propensity for rumour and allegation into a gothic narrative . . .
Yesterday’s Dust
is lightened by its pinpoint descriptions of people and places, as well as the occasional touch of humour, some of it with a country flavour and some delightfully black’ AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER

‘Is there such a thing as winter beach reading? If so, Joy Dettman’s
Yesterday’s Dust
fits the bill nicely . . . an author who’s well in tune with her subject and audience’ WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

The world as it was has been all but destroyed. Those few who survived the Great Ending are now ruled by an all-powerful group known as the Chosen, whose walled city encloses a diminishing population riddled with plague and threatened with extinction. Desperate to repopulate, the Chosen send searchers to capture every surviving female still living in the wild lands beyond the city for their new breeding stations.

There is a girl with a name neither of her companions can remember, who is found by the Chosen’s searchers living on a remote property. Since then, she has known little more than the life they enforce – a life dominated by their breeding program and genetic experimentation – while they immunise her and prepare to take her to their city.

Then one afternoon a son of one of the Chosen arrives at the girl’s farm, a boy who has fled from a life that he has come to find unbearable. His arrival sets in motion a chain of events which change the girl’s life in ways she could not possibly have imagined – offering her a chance to regain the unthinkable – freedom.

‘She had felt a sad pulling feeling in her stomach that day as the car had driven off, like there was a bit of elastic tied around her insides, sort of joining her to those brothers like it went right through that door, and as the car had driven further up the road, that elastic got pulled so tight, it hurt.’

Lori Smyth-Owen is balancing on the edge of adolescence but feeling years older. She has eleven brothers, nine living at home and the twins, who were stolen by Aunty Eva . . . which was lucky for them because there is never enough of anything to go around, except Mavis, Lori’s mother, who is so overweight she can barely move. That doesn’t stop her plotting to get those twins back. She’ll do anything to get them home.

Then tragedy strikes and the Smyth-Owen children take desperate measures to save themselves . . . and in so doing, discover that blood ties mean everything.

From the best-selling author of
Mallawindy
,
Jacaranda Blue
,
Goose Girl
,
Yesterday’s Dust
and
The Seventh Day
, comes a story of love and rescue.

Early one Sunday, the town of Molliston wakes to the news that a young bride is dead. The year is 1929. The Great War with Germany has been fought and won, but at an immense cost to the small community.

Death is too familiar here. So many sons were lost. So many daughters would never be wives; so many grandchildren would never be born.

Racial hatred is like a bushfire in the belly of some. And the dead girl is found only yards from the property of old Joe Reichenberg, a German. Tom Thompson, the local cop, lost his two sons in Gallipoli. He believes he has come to terms with his bereavement – until that Sunday.

Slowly, the true face of Molliston is exposed. By midnight, a full moon is offering its light – and a glimmer of hope.

‘Joy Dettman is a natural-born storyteller whose dark tales of rural life are addictive’
(The Age)

At the beginning of her writing journey, Joy Dettman’s charming, irascible, melancholy, wisecracking characters appeared in over twenty unique tales, many of which have won awards, many of which have never been published. Now, for the first time,
Diamonds in the Mud and Other Stories
is the complete collection of Joy Dettman’s exquisite short stories.

We meet an old coot in a rusty ute who picks up a hitchhiker, a neighbour reaches across the language divide to lend a helping hand, a grave digger might just have saved a young man’s life, an exhausted farmer’s wife lusts after a china cup, Granny Jordan is losing her marbles and an author is troubled by rats under the floorboards.

Since Joy’s first novel,
Mallawindy
, was published in 1998 she has attracted a growing number of readers who are entertained and shocked by her array of unforgettable characters populating the Australian landscape. This anthology will not disappoint the voracious fans of her distinctive narrative and adroit storytelling.

First published 2014 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000.

Copyright © Joy Dettman 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au

EPUB format: 9781743518021

Typeset by Midland Typesetters
Cover design by XOU Creative
Cover images: Thinkstock

This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously without any intent to describe actual conduct.

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