Our Country Christmas

Description

A feel-good collection of Australian Christmas stories that will warm your heart with the magic of the holiday season. The Drover Comes Home for Christmas by Darry Fraser [BRAND NEW STORY] 1889. To save his drought-stricken farm, Shep Miller is droving his remaining cattle in a desperate bid to reach the last sale before Christmas. Widow Jenny Wickley is glad to take in his two children, hoping to help the neighbour she has long admired. But when peculiar swaggies turn up with a touch of magic, a mystery is uncovered that will put all their lives in danger. Will the drover make it home in time? The Six Rules of Christmas by Penelope Janu [BRAND NEW STORY] Picking up the reins of her father's law practice, Ariella Blake has made a place for herself in small-town Warrandale. But when stand-in farrier Jack Adamson blows in for the holidays, with his good looks and infuriating evasiveness, he challenges her to embrace the rules of Christmas. Step by step, will Christmas - and Jack - get under her skin? Newborn Baby for Christmas by Fiona Lowe Georgie and Hamish have been best friends forever. So Hamish can't refuse when Georgie asks him for the Christmas present she's spent her whole life waiting for - a baby! But seeing a very pregnant Georgie changes everything. Not only is Hamish going to be a father, suddenly he's falling for the mother of his child... A Tale of Three Christmases by Eva Scott [BRAND NEW STORY] Turning her small farm into a B&B seems the perfect way for Lexie to make ends meet after the death of her husband. Not having to face Christmas alone is a bonus. But when attractive businessman Geoff arrives, everything she thought she needed changes. Can strangers from different worlds find lasting love? Or does fate have surprising plans? The Christmas Wish by Jacquie Underdown [BRAND NEW STORY] Returning home, schoolteacher Brielle hopes a quiet Christmas will quash the ever-present feeling that she no longer belongs anywhere. For single dad Luke, romance is off the agenda - no matter how appealing his one-time antagonist Brielle has become. It's not only his heart that's at risk - it's that of his young daughter too. But after a Christmas wish is cast, the spirit of Christmas conspires to create some holiday magic.

FIONA LOWE has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in Papua New Guinea where, without television, reading was the entertainment and it set up a lifelong love of books. Although she often re-wrote the endings of books in her head, it was the birth of her first child that prompted her to write her first novel. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA (R) award and two Australian RuBY awards, Fiona writes books that are set in small country towns. They feature real people facing difficult choices and explore how family ties and relationships impact on their decisions. When she's not writing stories, she's a distracted wife, mother of two 'ginger' sons, a volunteer in her community, guardian of eighty rose bushes, a slave to a cat, and is often found collapsed on the couch with wine. You can find her at her website, fionalowe.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. Darry Fraser fell in love with the great Murray River when her family moved to her childhood town of Swan Hill in Victoria. Stories of the river have been with her ever since and it's where a number of her novels are set. Her stories are of ordinary people in nineteenth century Australia who are drawn into difficult circumstances - adventure, mystery and mayhem, love and life, and against the backdrop of historical events. Darry lives on Kangaroo Island, an awe-inspiring place off the coast of South Australia. To find out more, visit Darry on her website. You can also follow Darry on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Penelope Janu lives on the coast in northern Sydney with a distracting husband, a very large dog and, now they're fully grown, six delightful children who come and go. Penelope has a passion for creating stories that explore social and environmental issues, but her novels are fundamentally a celebration of Australian characters and communities. Her first novel, In at the Deep End, came out in 2017, followed by On the Right Track, On the Same Page, Up on Horseshoe Hill, Starting from Scratch and Clouds on the Horizon as well as a novella, The Six Rules of Christmas. Penelope enjoys riding horses, exploring the Australian countryside and dreaming up challenging hiking adventures. Nothing makes her happier as a writer than readers falling in love with her clever, complex and adventurous heroines and heroes. She loves to hear from readers, and can be contacted at www.penelopejanu.com. Eva Scott is the bestselling author of rural romcoms such as Lonely in Longreach and Meet Me in Bendigo. A lifelong storyteller, she lived in Britain and Papua New Guinea before coming home to Australia to train as a cultural anthropologist. She now lives in rural Tasmania, amongst vineyards and orchards, with her husband and son, two cats and a cocker spaniel. If you'd like to know more about Eva, her books, or to connect with her online, you can visit her website: evascottwriter.com Photo Credit: Renee Shea Jacquie resides in sunny Brisbane with her husband and two sons. Numbers and practicality are a way of life for Jacquie as she works as an accountant by day. So it's no wonder, for sanity's sake, she balances this banality with words, characters and imagination in all other possible moments. Jacquie is an author of a number of novels and writes contemporary women's fiction that is emotionally driven and possesses unique themes beyond the constraints of the physical universe. She strives to offer romance, but with complexity; spirituality, without the religion. Her novels express a purpose and offer subtle messages about life, the spirit and, of course, love.