Overview

A nineteenth-century novel set in Queensland, Australia. Convict transportation had been ceased and the area opened to free settlement twenty-four years previously. Lucy Dougall dies; her four children orphaned. Fifteen-year-old Sarah will do whatever it takes to keep the family together; just as her mother had done. Any thoughts of romance in her life are quashed. When, like a tsunami wave, disaster strikes, grief and self-loathing overwhelm Sarah. It is the proprietor of Millie's Mariner's Rest; Hotel and Lodging who takes the family in and offers Sarah work as a trainee housekeeper. The girl flourishes under Millie's care, but Sarah's trauma remains deep inside. Millie's stepson, Jacko, develops an attraction for the young woman but is at a loss to understand why Sarah retreats at the most innocent touch of his hand. With patience and wisdom gained from living her life on the edge of acceptable society, will Millie guide the damaged young girl to maturity? Sarah's brothers, Josh and Gus, seek a berth on the Northern Orchid, the ship on which their father lost his life six years previously. Many who sail on the Northern Orchid believe Jimmy Dougall's ghost still walks the decks. At Captain Sloan's request, the lads spend seven months working on the Brisbane docks. Under the tutelage of a retired friend of the captain's, their purview is to learn all they can of steam engines and ships. It is here, on the docks, the lads discover they must fight to protect their jobs. The Northern Orchid, a coastal trader confronting the challenges of the partially mapped reefs of the Queensland Inner Channel, offers many experiences both in sea craft and in human nature. Will this be enough to carve young men from raw boys? Captain Sloan and Mate MacGregor mentor Josh and Gus as a favour to the dead Jimmy Dougall who had saved their lives on the day he was killed. Despite this, a life is lost, another life teeters on the verge of death, another must face the Bowen magistrate.

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Elizabeth Rimmington Elizabeth is an Australian author living in a rural area of South-East Queensland. During a career in nursing followed by several years driving a taxi cab, Elizabeth has met many and varied characters. Some good, some bad, some saints and some sinners, some cheery and some a misery, BUT all very interesting. If each individual was to be measured as a bucket of sea water, the Northern Orchid might have another ocean on which to bend her sails. A new novelist whose story characters infiltrate the reader's heart by osmosis. Their laughter, their heartbreak and their pain will fill the book-lover's soul with happiness, tears, fear and empathy. Visit the author at www.elizabethrimmington.com.au Join the mailing list. lizrim007@gmail.com Cover designer- Cat Petersen. Cat Petersen is an artist, photographer, graphic designer and animal whisperer. She was raised in a creative household and has been surrounded by a variety of animals all her life. She learned to draw on the hallway walls as a toddler, which were quickly covered with butcher's paper so she could continue with her artistic creations, and hasn't stopped creating things since. She has used a variety of methods over the years including pyrography, lino printing, watercolour and digital and loves learning and discovering ways to express herself creatively.

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