Keepers – historical women’s fiction

Award winning historical women’s fiction with a smidgen of romance

In 1950 Australia, Raine believes her unplanned marriage to the volatile Teddy is working out fine.
Until he abandons her.

I’ve been thrilled with readers’ responses to Raine, Teddy and Alf and their struggles to work out what it is they really want from life – and with whom. Here are some of my fave review quotes –

‘Once you start to read this book you have to read on until the end.’
‘This was a book I read in two sittings, which is unusual for me.’
‘I was engrossed from the start – it comes alive while you read it’
‘I’d love to read more from this author in the future!’
‘I already want a sequel. This was a book I read in two sittings, which is unusual for me.’
‘This is a beautifully written book, uplifting and heart warming. I could not put this book down and read it in one session. I do hope you will write another book soon.’

Starting with a handful of facts …

The book came about when I was mulling over bits of family lore I’d grown up with, and it occurred to me I could over-dramatise reality and perhaps get a good story out of these snippets.
My parents met on a post WW2 migrant camp, my mother was from the Australian countryside and my dad emigrated from bombed-out East London. It was a beginning. They often talked about the camp, fondly, as a time of fun, no responsibilities, good mates they hung out with. Motor bikes with sidecars, my granddad’s ancient Pontiac which my dad assumed meant Mum’s family must be rich (ha!), going to the funfair and being, well, young. In a new place, with your whole life ahead of you.

… and spiralling out of control!

That’s where it started, but the story in my head quickly spiralled out of control. My mother would have adored living in a cabin in the hills, but she never did. And the closest Dad got to the Snowy Mountains was a day trip from Canberra when I was a student at university there. Raine, Teddy and Alf, their lives and personalities, are all in my imagination, though of course, as with all characters we write, there are bits of (different) real people there.

Reviews

I’d love it if you explored reviews on Amazon and Goodreads

Book club questions

Go here for some starter questions – get the discussion going (and include me, if you like, by email, zoom or in real life if you’re not too far away. I would love that!)

Read an extract

You can read an extract from Keepers here.

How to buy?

Click on the image or click here for Amazon. Keepers is available on Kindle Unlimited.

Background research

Migrant hostels

For the book, I did some research on post WW2 migrant camps/hostels summarised in this article. Fascinating stuff.

I also took a look at the Snowy Mountain Scheme, and you can read about that here.

Follow up with the asked-for sequel. Walking in the Rain can be found here. And book three, The Past Can Wait, is available here.