Thanks to Allen and Unwin here is your chance to win one of 5 x copies of The True Story of Maddie Bright by Mary-Rose MacColl.

The bestselling author of In Falling Snow returns with a spellbinding tale of friendship, love and loyalty.

In 1920, seventeen-year-old Maddie Bright is thrilled to take a job as a serving girl on the royal tour of Australia by Edward, Prince of Wales. She makes friends with Helen Burns, the prince's vivacious press secretary, and Rupert Waters, his most loyal man, and is in awe of Edward himself, the boy prince.

For Maddie, who longs to be a journalist like Helen, what starts as a desire to help her family after the devastation of war becomes a chance to work on something that matters. When the unthinkable happens, it is swift and life changing.

Decades later, Maddie Bright is living in a ramshackle house in Paddington, Brisbane. She has Ed, her devoted neighbour, to talk to, the television news to shout at, and door-knocker religions to join. But when London journalist Victoria Byrd gets the sniff of a story that might lead to the true identity of a famously reclusive writer, Maddie's version of her own story may change.

1920, 1981 and 1997: the strands twist across the seas and over two continents, to build a compelling story of love and fame, motherhood and friendship. Set at key moments in the lives of two of the most loved and hated figures of the 20th century, in Maddie Bright, a reader will find a friend, and by novel's close, that friend's true and moving story.

The True Story of Maddie Bright is Mary-Rose MacColl's sixth novel. Her first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian/Vogel literary award and her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley Awards. Her international bestseller, In Falling Snow, was published to great acclaim in 2012 in Australia and the US. Swimming Home, published in 2015, won the People's Choice Award at the 2016 Queensland Literary Awards. MacColl's memoir, For a Girl, was published in 2017 and was shortlisted in the Queensland Literary awards and the Victorian Premier's Literary awards. She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and son.

The True Story of Maddie Bright
Allen and Unwin
Author: Mary-Rose MacColl
ISBN: 9781760295240
RRP: $29.99