The Lost Pearl
A sweeping historical saga set in 1940s Hawaii and Sydney. The passion of forbidden love and the devastation of war reaches across generations in this poignant tale that is heart-wrenching, but ultimately uplifting.
Honolulu, Hawaii, 1941:
On the evening of her sixteenth birthday party, Catherine McGarrie wants nothing more than for the night to be over, even though the opulence of the ballroom befits the daughter of a US Navy Rear Admiral. Then she meets Charlie, a navy officer from the other side of the tracks, a man her parents would never approve of.
As rumours of war threaten their tropical paradise, Catherine and Charlie fall in love. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 changes their lives forever.
Seventy-five years later, addled by age and painkillers, Catherine tells her granddaughter Kit her story and reveals the tale of a long-lost treasure. Can Kit uncover the secret and reunite her family? Or will the truth tear them apart?
Emily Madden covets books like some women covet shoes and handbags (although she has a decent collection of each of those too!). While she reads anything and everything, stories that touch the heart and uplift the soul are what she loves the most. Emily lives in Sydney with her two girls and husband. She's a coffee lover and can often be found writing at her local haunts.
The Lost Pearl
MIRA
Author: Emily Madden
RRP: $29.99
The Right Place
Can the past show you the way home?
Charming and memorable, The Right Place is an Australian novel that combines warm romance with family drama and the longing to fit in. Perfect for readers who love the sensory delights and uplifting themes of The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon.
With her dreams of dominating Melbourne's fashion scene in tatters, Nella Martini has returned to the last place she wants to be – Torrente Blu, the market garden inherited from her late nonna. She just needs to clean up the property, sell it quickly, and avoid run-ins with her neighbour: surly Adrian Tomaso.
But when Nella comes across her nonna's cookbook things start to change. The place, with its endless tomato plants and gallons of olive oil in storage, gets under her skin, as does Adrian with his passion for this life. But her dreams have always meant being anywhere but here – haven't they? Or has the right place been here all this time?