Stillwater Creek

A dazzling debut novel about redemption, war, and the ties that hold families together It is 1957 and--after the death of her husband--pianist Ilona Talivaldis and her nine-year-old daughter Zidra travel to the remote coastal town of Jingera in New South Wales. Ilona, a concentration camp survivor from Latvia, is searching for peace and an opportunity to start anew. In her beautiful vine-covered cottage on the edge of the lagoon, she plans to set herself up as a piano teacher. The weeks pass, and slowly mother and daughter get to know the townsfolk--including kind-hearted butcher George Cadwallader who is forever gazing at the stars; his son Jim, a boy wise beyond his years; Peter Vincent, a former wartime pilot and POW; and Cherry Bates, the publican's wife who is about to make a horrifying discovery. It's quickly apparent that Jingera is not quite the utopia Ilona imagined it to be--a discovery that may force her to risk the one thing she holds dear.

Alison Booth is currently hard at work on her third novel, which will be set in Jingera in 1970.