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A delightful small town story of community and family with shades of Romeo and Juliet and The Dressmaker.

Two households, both alike in dignity...

Aunt Alice Dwyer loves her small Australian town. She's rarely left its comforting embrace. She knows everyone in it; in fact, she's related to most of them. All she wants is to keep her family safe and the town running exactly the way it always has. Her way. But when an exotic French artist comes to town, her hold begins to weaken...

Lucienne Chevalier, once the toast of Europe, has come to Nyringa after a tragic loss to hang up her sequins and create a place for her circus family to rest between tours. With her is Simon, her grandson, recovering from an injury so damaging he can no longer perform. Lucienne fears he'll never embrace a new future. That is, until she notices the chemistry between him and the new schoolteacher... All they need is a push.

Both grande dames think they know what's best, but with equal amounts of stubbornness on both sides, peace looks unlikely. Then a relationship between Alice's rebellious great-niece and a teenage acrobat sets the two communities on a collision course. But when the bakery starts making patisseries over lamingtons, the battle lines are truly drawn...

A story of community and family. Of the love that brings them together ... and the fears that would tear them apart.

About the Author

Janet Gover grew up in outback Australia, surrounded by wide open spaces, horses … and many, many books. She is a self-confessed ‘bit of a geek girl'. When not writing novels she works in IT in really dull places like Pinewood Movie Studios, Puerto Rico and Iraq. When her cat lets her actually sit in her chair, she writes stories of strong women, rural communities and falling in love. Her novel Little Girl Lost won the Epic Romantic Novel of the Year Award presented by the Romantic Novelists' Association in the UK, and she has won or been shortlisted for awards in Australia and the USA.

As Juliet Bell, in collaboration with Alison May, she rewrites misunderstood classic fiction, with an emphasis on heroes who are not so heroic. Her favourite food is tomato. She spends too much time playing silly computer games, and is an enthusiastic, if not always successful, cook.