Book picks similar to
Union Belle by Deborah Challinor


new-zealand
historical
nz-fiction
new-zealand-author

Under a Flaming Sky


Elizabeth Haran - 2007
    Their journey takes an unexpected turn, however, and Arabella finds herself in the desert - all alone. Her fate might have been sealed if not for a group of Aborigines that take her to Marree, a small town in the outback, cut off from the rest of the world. While her parents believe her dead, Arabella is all on her own...

Chappy


Patricia Grace - 2015
    As his relatives revisit their past, Daniel learns of a remarkable love story between his Maori grandmother Oriwia and his Japanese grandfather Chappy. The more Daniel hears about his deceased grandfather, the more intriguing – and elusive – Chappy becomes.In this touching portrayal of family life, acclaimed writer Patricia Grace explores racial intolerance, cross-cultural conflicts and the universal desire to belong. Spanning several decades and several continents and set against the backdrop of a changing New Zealand, Chappy is a compelling story of enduring love.

The Whole Bright Year


Debra Oswald - 2018
    Years ago, when her husband was killed as a bystander in an armed robbery, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter Zoe to this farm for a secure life. Now sixteen, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother's protectiveness, yearning to find intensity and a bit of danger.Barging into this world as itinerant fruit-pickers come a desperate brother and sister from Sydney. The hard-bitten Sheena has kidnapped her wild, ebullient eighteen-year-old brother Kieran and dragged him out west, away from trouble in the city. Kieran and Zoe are drawn to each other the instant they meet, sparking excitement, worry, lust, trouble . . . How do we protect people we love? How do we bear watching them go out into the perilous world with no guarantee of safety or happiness? What bargains do people make with darkness in order to survive? From the creator of Offspring and author of Useful, The Whole Bright Year is a gripping, wry and tender novel about how holding on too tightly can cost us what we love.

The Valley of Amazement


Amy Tan - 2013
    A deeply evocative narrative about the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement returns readers to the compelling territory of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic insight and humor, she conjures a story of inherited trauma, desire and deception, and the power and stubbornness of love.

Rain


Leigh K. Cunningham - 2011
    It explores the often difficult but enduring ties between mothers and daughters, men and women: the sacrifices, compromises, and patterns of emotion that repeat themselves through generations. In a journey that spans four decades and crosses the globe, Rain is an epic tale of the choices and consequences that comprise one family's history. By turn dark and amusing, Rain delivers an emotionally charged revelation about love, loss, guilt, self-discovery and redemption. The enduring question of family bonds-escapable or not-divides, conquers, and triumphs.

The First Mrs. Rothschild


Sara Aharoni - 2015
    But when Meir’s talents as a novice banker catch the attention of a German prince, Meir is suddenly afforded entrée into the European world of finance and nobility, and the Rothschilds’ lives are changed forever. As proud as Gutle is of her husband’s success, she is also cautious—very much aware of the fact that her husband’s rise is tied to his patrons’ willingness to “see past” his Jewishness. As their family grows, and a dream of fortune comes true, so does their belief that money will ultimately bring the power needed to establish Jewish civil rights.Told through Gutle’s intimate journals, revealed across decades—from the French Revolution through personal tragedies and triumphs—The First Mrs. Rothschild paints a rich and intimate tapestry of family drama, world-changing history, and one woman’s steadfast strength.

The Better Son


Katherine Johnson - 2016
    Tasmania. The green, rolling hills of the dairy town Mole Creek have a dark underside -- a labyrinthine underworld of tunnels that stretch for countless miles, caverns the size of cathedrals and underground rivers that flood after heavy rain. The caves are dangerous places, forbidden to children. But this is Tasmania -- an island at the end of the earth. Here, rules are made to be broken.For two young brothers, a hidden cave a short walk from the family farm seems the perfect escape from their abusive, shell-shocked father -- until the older brother goes missing. Fearful of his father, nine-year-old Kip lies about what happened. It is a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Fifty years later, Kip -- now an award-winning scientist -- has a young son of his own, but cannot look at him without seeing his lost brother, Tommy. On a mission of atonement, he returns to the cave they called Kubla to discover if it's ever too late to set things right. To have a second chance. To be the father he never had.The Better Son is a richly imaginative and universal story about the danger of secrets, the beauty in forgiveness and the enthralling power of Tasmania's unique natural landscapes.

The Postmistress


Alison Stuart - 2019
     To forge a new life she must first deal with her past... 1871. Adelaide Greaves and her young son have found sanctuary in the Australian town of Maiden's Creek, where she works as a postmistress. The rough Victorian goldmining settlement is a hard place for a woman - especially as the other women in town don't know what to make of her - but through force of will and sheer necessity, Adelaide carves out a role. But her past is coming to find her, and the embittered and scarred Confederate soldier Caleb Hunt, in town in search of gold and not without a dark past of his own, might be the only one who can help. Can Adelaide trust him? Can she trust anyone?When death and danger threaten - some from her past, some borne of the Australian bush - she must swallow her pride and turn to Caleb to join her in the fight, a fight she is determined to win...

Those Hamilton Sisters


Averil Kenny - 2021
    That was until she ran away, twenty years ago, under a cloud of shame. It's now 1955 and following their mother's death, the Hamilton sisters - Sonnet, Fable and little Novella Plum - have returned to Noah Vale to live near their aunt and uncle.Sonnet, twenty years old and legal guardian to her siblings, has never stepped foot in Noah Vale, yet has been the talk of the town for decades. Fable, at twelve-years-old, is a talented artist and lovelier than even her heartbreaking mother had been. And three year old Plum is just a little girl who's lost her mother and been taken away from the only home she's ever known.As the years pass, the three sisters settle into their new life, working in the town, going to school and swimming in the perfect waterfalls nearby. But suspicion and judgment continue to follow the Hamilton sisters wherever they go. In a small town where everyone thinks they know everything about each other, it's hard to escape the past. And when Fable falls in love with Noah Vale's golden boy, is history destined to repeat itself?Those Hamilton Sisters is a warm, captivating and irresistible story of love, family, secrets and finding your place in the world. For readers of Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton.

The Red Scarf


Kate Furnivall - 2008
    Now, its gifted author delivers another sweeping historical novel. Davinsky Labor Camp, Siberia, 1933: Only two things in this wretched place keep Sofia from giving up hope: the prospect of freedom, and the stories told by her friend and fellow prisoner Anna, of a charmed childhood in Petrograd, and her fervent girlhood love for a passionate revolutionary named Vasily. After a perilous escape, Sofia endures months of desolation and hardship. But, clinging to a promise she made to Anna, she subsists on the belief that someday she will track down Vasily. In a remote village, she's nursed back to health by a Gypsy family, and there she finds more than refuge, she also finds Mikhail Pashin, who, her heart tells her, is Vasily in disguise. He's everything she has ever wanted but he belongs to Anna. After coming this far, Sofia is tantalizingly close to freedom, family?even a future. All that stands in her way is the secret past that could endanger everything she has come to hold dear.

City of Angels


Tracie Peterson - 2001
    Yet under the care of her socialite aunt, Kit quickly comes to realize that few understand her burning desire to seek justice and practice a profession known only to men. When her aunt adamantly refuses to support her unconventional career aspirations, Kit questions whether she is truly following God's will. And when her growing love for a man pledged to another threatens scandal, Kit knows her days might be numbered in Los Angeles. A chance meeting with Earl Rogers, the city's most prominent criminal lawyer, garners Kit an apprentice position. And work on a notorious murder case. Someone has been killing prostitutes in Los Angeles, but Kit is certain it is not Rogers' client. Determined to find the truth, Kit runs full on into forces that want to stop her, forces that stretch all the way to the citadels of power in the City of Angels.

A love So Legendary with Special Introduction Edition (Harvey House Series Book 1)


Ellen Anderson - 2018
    However, the real appeal of Fred Harvey’s industry, the reason so many people still remember his businesses today, is because of the Harvey Girls.Far more than mere waitresses, the Harvey Girls were a group of courageous young women who ventured west to hire on with Mr. Harvey, not really knowing the scope of the challenges they would be facing. Ultimately, these women became the wives, mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, and grandmothers who helped populated the west.Using the work experience they gained at Harvey Houses, they also became some of the country’s first female archaeologists, architects, doctors, lawyers, etc. In truth, Harvey Houses were a springboard for the women who helped shape the western half of the United States, in more ways than one, and this introduction to the series unfolds that riveting story.Then, Book 1 of the Harvey Girl series, A Love So Legendary,�tells the story of the first New Mexico Harvey House, set in the rough and tumble, isolated little town of Raton. When Mary Jane Colter hires on as a Harvey Girl, she has dreams that few women of her day and age are allowed to fulfill.Then she meets Tom Gable, the Raton Harvey House manager, and not only finds the love of a lifetime but a man who might just help her chase her wild dreams. Then a dangerous mystery puts their brand-new relationship to the test and risks their very lives.Love and legend collide as Mary Jane and Tom walk right out of the pages of history and into a timeless romance that could only ever take place in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. HARVEY HOUSE SERIES BOOK 1 A Love So LegendaryBOOK 2 A Love So UntamedBOOK 3 A Love So FaithfulBOOK 4 A Love So UnstagedBOOK 5 A Love So MiraculousBOOK 6 A Love So HealingBOOK 7 A Love So BoldBOOK 8 A Love So TrueBOOK 9 A Love So DevotedBOOK 10 A Love So EternalBOOK 11 A Love So CourageousBOOK 12 A Love So Enchanting Historical western romance short story series.

The Salt Madonna


Catherine Noske - 2020
    There are two stories here.Hannah Mulvey left her island home as a teenager. But her stubborn, defiant mother is dying, and now Hannah has returned to Chesil, taking up a teaching post at the tiny schoolhouse, doing what she can in the long days of this final year.But though Hannah cannot pinpoint exactly when it begins, something threatens her small community. A girl disappears entirely from class. Odd reports and rumours reach her through her young charges. People mutter on street corners, the church bell tolls through the night and the island's women gather at strange hours...And then the miracles begin.A page-turning, thought-provoking portrayal of a remote community caught up in a collective moment of madness, of good intentions turned terribly awry. A blistering examination of truth and power, and how we might tell one from the other.'Catherine Noske's debut novel grapples with questions of familial obligation, complicity, remorse and the fallibility of memory...The Salt Madonna will appeal to readers who enjoyed Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Beautiful Revolutionary.' Books+Publishing'Catherine Noske's The Salt Madonna is Australian Gothic at its most sublime and uncanny. Superbly atmospheric and darkly unsettling, the characters are haunted by their colonial pasts, manifested in guilty silence...Noske's taut, subversive writing exposes unspeakable truths buried in dazzling stories, miracles and epiphanies.' Cassandra Atherton

The Good Sister


Maggie Christensen - 2017
    A lifetime of regret. A love that spans the yearsIn 1938, as the world hurtled towards war, twenty-year-old Isobel MacDonald fell madly in love. But fate and her own actions conspired to deny her the happiness she yearned for. Many years later, plagued with regrets and with a shrill voice from the past ringing in her ears, she documents the events that shaped her life.In 2015, sixty-five-year-old Bel Davison returns from Australia to her native Scotland to visit her terminally ill aunt. Reading Isobel’s memoir, she is beset with memories of her own childhood and overcome with guilt. When she meets her aunt’s solicitor, events seem to spiral out of control and, almost against her will, she finds herself drawn to this enigmatic Scotsman.What is it that links these two women across the generations? Can the past influence the future?

The Italians At Cleat's Corner Store


Jo Riccioni - 2014
    For seventeen-year-old Connie, however, the newcomers provide a tantalising glimpse of the wider world — a world beyond the gossip and petty concerns traded over the counter of Cleat’s Corner Store. As the Onorati brothers begin to cast an unexpected influence over Leyton, Connie realises that, like them, she must grapple with her ambitions and dreams for the future. But what can any of them hope to find in the ruins of all they’ve lost?