Patricia Shaw iniziò la sua carriera di scrittrice di narrativa all'età di 52 anni. La sua vasta opera, incentrata spesso sulla colonizzazione dell'entroterra australiano, le è valsa il soprannome di "Cronista d'Australia". Sebbene i suoi romanzi abbiano riscosso un notevole successo, in particolare in Germania, dove fu soprannominata "La Poetessa di Francoforte", la sua distintiva voce letteraria continua a risuonare. Shaw porta nelle sue narrazioni una profonda esplorazione della vita di frontiera, catturando lo spirito della colonizzazione australiana con notevole empatia e abilità narrativa.
When Emilie and Ruth Tissington find themselves destitute in London, they set sail for Australia where they have been offered positions as governesses. After a traumatic voyage, they arrive to find their jobs do not exist. Then Emilie meets charming Mallachi Willoughby, and there is trouble ahead.
Set during the gold rush, this story follows Clem Price and his sister Alice as they manage their father's sheep station in Western Australia. Clem, determined to succeed despite his inexperience, marries Thora, who is pregnant by another man. As he seeks fortune in the gold rush, Thora's discontent leads to a dramatic and life-altering reunion.
The Hamilton and Oatley families, the owners of massive cattle stations in Australia's Northern Territory, rely on the annual monsoons to restore their parched land after the long, exhausting dry season. But this year the ominous storm clouds only serve to remind them of trouble brewing - an Aborgine guerilla fighter in the district with some of his men is causing havoc indiscriminately and placing both Zack Hamilton and William Oatley in great danger. As the days drag on, the Aborigines' struggle for survival involves them all in a vicious waiting game until men with revenge in their hearts have to face the truth about themselves.
The story revolves around Austin Broderick, who runs one of Australia's largest sheep farms but faces the consequences of his past actions when his friend Kelly is murdered by Aborigines seeking revenge for land theft. Striving for reconciliation, Austin and his wife work towards lasting peace with the Indigenous community. However, their efforts are shattered when three Aboriginal boys are kidnapped by a white reverend, igniting tensions and challenging their pursuit of harmony.
Patricia Shaw's magnificent saga celebrates the pioneering spirit of the men and women whose courage and ambition laid the foundations of modern Australia
A powerful testament to the human spirit, STORM BAY looks back to the early days of Van Dieman's Land and the thousands of prisoners who suffered to create a great State and earn the respect of a nation
A tumultuous story of revenge and betrayal from 'one of the foremost writers of Australian historical novels' says Historical Novels Review
Set against the turbulent excitement of the goldrush, a story of courage, ambition and desire. Following the tragic death of their father, Clem Price and his sister Alice take over the running of Lancoorie sheep station in Western Australia. Despite his youth and inexperience, Clem is determined to see the farm prosper. When wealthy Dr Carty suggests that Clem marry his daughter Thora, Clem cannot afford to refuse the handsome dowry she will bring. And although he knows that Thora is carrying another man's child, he is enchanted by his beautiful young bride. Yet Thora proves to be flighty and demanding, disappointed that her husband is not as wealthy as she had imagined. Desperate to please her, Clem joins the goldrush to Kalgoorlie to seek his fortune. But his prolonged absence enrages Thora further and, despite Alice's warnings, she travels to Perth to find her husband. Her dramatic reunion with Clem is to have shocking consequences from which those involved might never recover...
Father Beitz has a dream. From his home in 1870s Hamburg, he plans to pioneer an idyllic German community in faraway Australia, in a backwoods hamlet, barely settled, called Bundaberg. He soon finds other dreamers eager to join him, thrilled by the prospect of a sunny clime, cheap arable land, and their own Lutheran society.But when they arrive they find the land, bought for them by Father Beitz, is nothing but a jungle, and before long it seems the trials of their new home may force the community to disintegrate. As time passes, a combination of courage and determination carries the pioneers beyond their fears, but a new threat awaits. Only an elderly Aborigine mystic sees the evil that threatens them, but can he warn them in time?
Ten years after he first took shelter with the Queensland Aborigines, Jack Drew - an escaped convict - has decided the time has come to return to civilisation. He finds employment on a back-country farm called Emerald Downs, and when the owner, Major Ferrington, is ordered to roust the Aborigines who have been terrorising the area, Jack is horrified to find he must go with him as a scout. The farm is left in the hands of Adrian Pinnock - the brother of Major Ferrington's fiancée, Jessie - but when Jessie herself insists on accompanying him dealings on the once well-ordered estate take a very different course. It soon becomes clear that the shattering events of these frontier times will give new meaning to all their lives...
