When the Lyrebird Calls

A time-slip novel in which Madeleine finds herself transported back to 1900 Australia, where she befriends a family of girls and is witness to a family secret and a family tragedy.

When Madeleine is shipped off to stay with her eccentric grandmother for the holidays, she expects the usual: politics, early-morning yoga, extreme health food, and lots of hard work. Instead, Madeleine tumbles back in time to 1900, where the wealthy Williamson family takes her into their home, Lyrebird Muse.

At a time when young girls have no power and no voice, set against a backdrop of the struggles for emancipation, federation and Aboriginal rights, Madeleine must find a way to fit in with the Williamson family's four sisters - beautiful, cold Bea; clever, awkward Gert; adventurous, rebellious Charlie; and darling baby Imo - as she searches desperately for a way home.

Meanwhile, the Williamson girls' enchanting German cousin, Elfriede, arrives on the scene on a heavenly wave of smoke and cinnamon, and threatens to shatter everything...

About the Author

Kim Kane was born in London in a bed bequeathed by Wordsworth for '...a writer, a dancer or a poet'. Despite this auspicious beginning, she went on to practise law. Her picture book Family Forest was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Awards, and The Vegetable Ark and Esther's Rainbow were both CBCA Notable Books. Her junior fiction novel Pip: The Story of Olive won the Barbara Ramsden Award and was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) and Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards.

Kim's young adult thriller Cry Blue Murder, co-written with Marion Roberts, was shortlisted for the Inky Awards and the Davitt Awards and was highly commended in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. She has also written a junior fiction series called Ginger Green, Playdate Queen. Kim lives with her family in Melbourne. She writes whenever and wherever she can.