Field of Poppies

Keen to escape the pressures of city life, Marsali Swift and her husband William are drawn to Listowel, a glorious historic mansion in the seemingly tranquil small town of Muckleton. There is time to read, garden, decorate, play chess and befriend the locals.

Yet one night Listowel is robbed, and soon after a neighbour is murdered. The violent history of the couple's adopted Goldfields town is revealed, and plans for a new goldmine emerge.

Subtle and sinister details unnerve : the novels that are studied at book club echo disappearances and colonial transgressions, a treasured copy painting painting of Monet's Field of Poppies recalls loves and dreams but also times of war.

Atmospheric and beguiling this is a novel the seduces the reader with mysteries and beauties but also speaks of something much larger. The planet is in trouble, but is the human race up to the challenge? Are Marsali and William walking blindfold into a hostile world?

About the Author

Carmel Bird is an Australian author and former teacher, born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1940. She taught fiction writing at the university level at Melbourne, Deakin, Latrobe, Monash, Swinburne and RMIT Universities. She has been writing since 1976 and is the author of novels, short story collections, nonfiction, children's books, and has edited anthologies.

Dimitra was her first collection and was published in 1981 and My Hearts are Your Hearts was published in 2015. Cherry Ripe was her first novel, published in 1985, and Family Skeleton, published in 2016, is her most recent. Dear Writer, published in 1988, was her first nonfiction book and Fair Game was published in 2015. She wrote two children's books, The Mouth (1996) and The Cassowary's Quiz (1998). The Writing on the Wall: Collection of Poetry and Prose by Women (1985) was her first work as an editor, and The Penguin Century of Australian Stories was published in 2000.

She has written book reviews for the Australian Book Review. Her awards include winning the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal at the Mildura Writer's Festival (2001) and in 2016, winning the Patrick White Literary Award.