"How could she believe in her future, when she couldn't forget her past?"
Megan Trevallyn, a young English governess, stands accused of a heinous crime. An added trauma is a fraudulent report which breaks her heart. Duplicity by those of the household, who stand to gain most by her transportation to a harsh penal colony in Australia, appears to determine the course of her tempestuous life. And stripped of everything, except her faith, upon her arrival she faces a daunting challenge. Will this be a land of promise...or perdition?
Book I of the Watermark Women Trilogy introduces those whose lives entwine with Megan's destiny. Cornelia Cantrell, the scheming mistress of the Mayfair mansion. Captain Charles Cantrell, her love. Lieutenant John Stafford, her nemesis. Ezra Montefiore, an ardent suitor. And her Christian mentor, Caroline Chisholm, the bane of all who practice excessive adherence to rules and regulations in the new colony.
Order from Koorong, or local Christian bookstore
Endorsements:
* Wendy Sargeant
Queensland Society of Editors, Author of Price and Redemption
“From the ‘toffs’ of 19th century England to the felons, selectors, dandies, and bushrangers of colonial Australia, Rita’s feisty heroine takes us on an intriguing romantic adventure as she searches for truth and the love she has lost. And all the while we weep for Megan’s indignities and rejoice in the triumph of her faith!”
CULTURE
When do ships and books share something in common? When they are launched.
Rita Galieh's inspirational Australian historical, FIRE in the ROCK, published by Ark House Press, was recently launched at the Toukley Women's Conference.
Answering the question as to what the book was about, she went on to describe how, at the turn of the twentieth century, Australia, in a spirit of growing independence shrugged off many of its ties with the "Old Country". Some class distinctions lingered, boundaries between men and women were still clearly defined and social conventions strict. In this setting a well-meant deception finds a young woman involved in a desperate search to unearth crucial information, for the truth - preserved by its wary keepers - lies buried in the opal fields on the fringe of the vast and thirsty Outback.
And how much is true in this account? Rita explained that although fiction, the story is based on true incidents and laced with some of the fascinating individuals forming part of our Australian Christian heritage. She also admitted that most of its main protagonists were real life composites of people she has known.
The author was also deeply influenced by her special friend, Leone Jacobs-Stein, who awakened her affinity with her Jewish heritage, and the book is dedicated to her memory.