Chapters (50)
- Cover
- About the Book
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sandie Docker
- Book Club Questions
- Welcome to the Kookaburra Creek Café
- Prologue
- One
- Sign up to Read More and discover new favourites
Mother didn’t approve of young people going to dances, even when Father insisted. It was for a good cause he’d said. Ivy had begged Mother to let her go. She was never allowed to do anything remotely resembling fun. But neither of these forces could sway Mother. It was only when she heard the Fitzgeralds would be there, including their pimply letch of a son with his extremely healthy trust fund in tow, that she changed her mind.
All evening Mother had been working the Fitzgeralds over by the punch bowl at the back of the hall. If she hadn’t been so terrified of dancing with Hubert, Ivy might have found Mother’s talents impressive.
She could see from the smile on Mother’s face that an agreement had been reached. She turned to escape.
‘Excuse me.’
She felt a tap on her shoulder.
‘I hope you aren’t leaving.’
Ivy turned to face those warm, dark eyes that had enchanted her from the moment she saw them.
‘Would you like to dance?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’ She smiled.
‘Very pleased to meet you,’ he said, extending his hand to escort her on to the floor. ‘I’m Thomas Wilson.’
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Joel Naoum of Critical Mass Consulting for helping massage an earlier version of The Cottage at Rosella Cove and for giving me direction with this story. Your insight and knowledge is second to none.
Jan Wallace Dickinson, thank you for lending your expertise on postwar Italian tourism to this project. Your willingness to help when I reached out to you is why I love the writing community.
To my wonderful writing buddies, Shell, Max, Georgie, El and Benison, thank you for your continued support and being there throughout this process. Thanks also to Anne S and Adrienne M for your ninja moves in bookshops.
Dianne Blacklock, you are the best unofficially adopted mentor a girl could hope for. Thank you for your wise counsel, for talking me off the editing ledge (more than once), and for helping me navigate the world of being a published author. Every writer needs a Di in their life, and I’m so grateful I have you.
Thank you to my amazing beta readers – Mishell Currie for being my staunch cheerleader, for loving this story before I did, and for your amazing support throughout (how many copies of The Kookaburra Creek Café do you own?!); Jennifer Johnson for your unwavering support, your willingness to read yet another version of Rosella Cove at the eleventh hour, and your beautiful texts that keep me going.
Léonie Kelsall, my wonderful critique partner, thank you for the oh-so-many late night messenger conversations about writing, publishing, family, editing and all the stressors that come with this journey and for being such an integral part of Rosella Cove. Thank you for flying across the country to be with me when The Kookaburra Creek Café came out. You are awesome.