‘A treat to savour’ Discovering Diamonds
At eight months pregnant, Raine shouldn’t be on a jolting bus crawling through snow searching for her husband. He might not want to be found. She might not want to find him.
In 1950 Australia, Raine believes her unplanned marriage to the volatile Teddy is working out fine. They have their own place, humble though it is. Their baby thrives.
But when Teddy abandons his young family, a grieving and furious Raine faces hard choices – made harder when she discovers she’s bearing their second child.
Are the words of the telegram the real reason behind Teddy’s desertion?
Was there ever a future for them, or had his harridan mother been right all along?
And what about the faithful, devoted Alf? He’s always looked out for Raine. He’d love to do so forever.
With her baby nearly due, Raine sets out on a punishing journey to face the truth. And make the most important decision of her life.
Targeted Age Group:: 18 plus
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Keepers is based very loosely on my own parents' stormy early relationship. There are snippets of truth in here, but what is fact and what is fiction only myself and a handful of elderly aunts know (I have a vivid imagination!). Although I now live in the UK, it was a joy to conjure the Australia of my earliest memories (I post date the book by a few years, but not many), from the landscape and wildlife in its huge variety, to traditions such as the city's annual Christmas pageant and the pleasure boats we rode to the zoo. Many reviewers have commented how they feel they are there, in the landscape, and that the weather is almost a character in itself.
