Pearl in a Cage — Joy Dettman

The first book in the dark and addictive Woody Creek series from bestselling Australian author Joy Dettman

"Dettman writes compulsively readable stories" The Age

Spanning two momentous decades and capturing rural Australia's complex and mysterious heart, Pearl in a Cage is unputdownable.

On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek.

The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her - but the baby lives.

When no relatives come forth to claim the infant, Gertrude's daughter Amber - who has recently lost a son in childbirth - and her husband Norman take the child in. In the ensuing weeks, Norman becomes convinced that God has sent the baby to their door, and in an act of reckless compassion, he names the baby Jennifer and registers her in place of his son.

Loved by some but scorned by more - including her stepmother and stepsister who resent the interloper - Jenny survives her childhood and grows into an exquisite and talented young woman. But who were her parents? Why does she so strongly resemble an old photograph of Gertrude's philandering husband? And will she one day fulfil her potential?

"Joy Dettman is a natural-born storyteller whose dark tales of rural life are addictive ..." The Age

Fans of Rosalie Ham's The Dressmaker will love Joy Dettman.