Rough Currents (The Sandstone Series #6)

Jess Walsh is a working mother in 1831 New South Wales, managing the myriad of tasks for the innkeeper. her long-time husband Brian, ensuring all their work is done to the approval of “squire” Solomon Wiseman. Additionally, Jess, supervises the food stores needed to sustain the men working on the Great North Road, a massive project which sits alongside her inn and across her beloved Hawkesbury. In her rare quiet moments, she worries over the courtship of her only child Deirdre with a stonemason. Life is good but life is to change tragically when death strikes close to her. Lt William Dodds the Road’s military surveyor feels sympathy for her and is encouraged by Deirdre to help her mother. Jess claws her way out of her grief and starts to develop her friendship with Dodds. Yet in this, she is thwarted by her unremitting views on the military and the upper classes, both of which contributed to her conviction and transportation as a convict. The relationship with Dodds deepens when kidnap and violence are thrust upon them. No sooner has life returned to Wiseman’s Ferry, when Jess is to discover the reason behind her father’s bankruptcy and tragedies, brought about by a person she holds dear. Shady dealings, women’s determination, nature’s fury and pioneering struggle are all painted onto the canvas of the burgeoning Australian colony.