Burning Fields — Alli Sinclair

A powerful and sweeping historical novel of love, loss, and hope, set against Australia's vast sugarcane fields in the turbulent days after World War II.

1948: Change has come to every corner of the globe -- and Rosie Stanton, returning home to northern Queensland after serving the war effort in Brisbane, plans to rescue her family's foundering sugarcane farm with her unstoppable can-do spirit. Coming up against her father's old-world views, a farm worker undermining her success, and constant reminders of Rosie's brothers lost in the war, Rosie realizes she wants more from life and love -- but at what cost?

Italian immigrant Tomas Conti arrives at a neighboring farm, and sparks fly as Rosie draws close to this enigmatic newcomer. When an enemy appears with evidence of Tomas's shocking past, long-held wartime hatreds rekindle . . . and an astounding family secret sets Rosie's world ablaze. At the dawn of a new era, Rosie must make her own destiny amid the ashes of yesterday -- by following her heart.