Captain Starlight's Apprentice - Tapa blanda

The story of two women living very different, heroic lives in two very different Australias.

Jess, circus-raised, is a stunt-rider who can outride any man. In the early days of film she finds her calling, playing wild outlaw women who answer to no one.  However, when her Chinese circus-owner husband is killed she is left pregnant and vulernable and, after suffering the cruellest betrayal of all, she finds herself closer to the outlaw's life than she had ever imagined.

Rose goes to Australia from England in the 1950s, in search of a new life.  But neither the new country nor motherhood is what she had expected and, very quickly, she finds herself estranged from those she loves, incarcerated and terrified.  Yet Rose is strong, and she will manage not only to save herself, but also to shed new light on Jess's story in a moving and deeply satisfying way.

With these wonderfully heroic protagonists, making a world for themselves despite the toughness of their environment and the cruellest twists of fate, Kathryn Heyman, author of the acclaimed THE ACCOMPLICE, has created a beautifully-written and unusual novel of extraordinary lives.