She was well on the road to becoming the millionaire Marina had always anticipated she would be. More importantly, she was happy.
She had no long-term lovers in sight but that, too, Marina had anticipated. Tamsyn was a woman who would love one man deeply and love him forever. Grant’s death had not changed that. Like Esmé, she could not have felt more married.
Charlotte was still not speaking to her. Hector had not got the top job. The company had imported someone from New Jersey to take over from Jim Bennett. The new man was overseeing the installation of the paraphernalia that went with the establishment of the new oil field. Latest reports said that it would be up and running in another eight months’ time.
If I’m still here to see it, Marina thought. Things had apparently gone into remission but Archie Venables had warned that they would come to life again eventually. He said that when it did it would be likely to go through her like a forest fire.
She was planning to pay a farewell visit to Mole Creek. When she got back she would continue doing what she had been doing for so long. She would live each day as it came. She would be happy.
She had known tragedy as well as joy, pain as well as exhilaration, but for the most part she’d had a good and fulfilling life with few regrets. When the moment arrived she, like Robert Louis Stevenson before her, would lay her down with a will.
No one, Marina Trevelyan thought, could ask for more than that.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Neither Noamunga nor the town of Boulders exist and it would be an error on the reader’s part to identify either with real places.
The west coast of Tasmania is a wild and remote area with a coastline that looks out across thousands of kilometres of uninterrupted ocean to the distant shores of southern South America. By the time the waves, spurred by a westerly wind, reach this coast the build-up of the seas is considerable, especially in the gales that are a frequent feature of the area.
The chemical stains upon the rocks exist, the after-effects of chemicals used in the mining and smelting processes of the past.
Baron Mitsui’s coalmine was notorious and saw the deaths of many prisoners of various nationalities during the Second World War. Survivors have confirmed that the baron was well aware of the consistent abuse of prisoners but, despite his subsequent protestations, did nothing to alleviate their suffering. The fact that men such as the philatelic baron, like Emperor Hirohito and other members of the Japanese royal family, were never brought to account has been attributed to the post-war policies of US General Douglas MacArthur. The general worked to shield the emperor from indictment, seeing him both as a unifying symbol in Japan and one whom MacArthur could control, but this does not explain why men such as Mitsui were never brought to account.
The apparent absence of justice in these cases may have been a factor in the high level of suicide among Second World War prisoners, some many years after the war.
The resort Nirvana does not exist. However, there has been significant development on the Andaman Sea islands off Thailand’s west coast, much of it connected with tourism.
Many countries in South-East Asia—Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand among them—impose serious penalties, including death, for drug-smuggling offences. In Thailand those convicted of smuggling heroin face the death penalty. Cocaine smugglers face a twenty-year jail sentence, which will normally be reduced by up to fifty per cent for those who plead guilty. Prison conditions are said to have improved somewhat in recent years but at the time this story was set they were as described.
There is no Trident Oil company. Several attempts have been made to locate the submarine oil reserves believed to exist in the Sorell Basin off Tasmania’s west coast. The search is ongoing.
The precise nature of Marina’s illness is not defined. Certain types of cancer can go into remission, sometimes for several years, but in most cases prove fatal in the end.
The bridge to nowhere on Dal Lake existed at the time the story is set.
The hill station of Kasauli, including its church, hotel and convent school, are as described.
HMAS Scimitar did not exist.
The Red Cross did invaluable work in keeping concerned relatives informed about loved ones imprisoned during the Second World War.
A major portion of this book is set in the 1930s and 1940s, a period which included the Second World War, in which Australia was engaged. Its principal opponents during that war, which ended in 1945, were Germany and Japan. Attitudes to the world have changed radically in the seventy-five years since those days, and terms hostile to both these countries that were in common usage during the war and have therefore been used in the text in the interests of historical accuracy, would certainly not be appropriate or acceptable today and do not represent the views of the author or anyone involved in the production of the book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful, as always, for the ongoing encouragement and assistance of my friend and literary agent Selwa Anthony and her daughter and agency assistant Linda. Selwa’s enthusiastic involvement over many years has been a major factor in the progress of my literary career.
I am also grateful to the team at Harlequin Mira—Sue Brockhoff, Jo Mackay and Annabel Blay—whose professional involvement has similarly been of great value in the success of my books. I am deeply appreciative of the professionalism of editor Kate James and of Johanna Baker, both of whom have been of invaluable assistance in bringing this book to the marketplace. My debt to my family is immeasurable.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J.H. FLETCHER is the prize-winning author of twenty novels, published to both critical and popular acclaim in Australia, Germany and the UK, as well as numerous short stories and plays for radio and television. He was educated in England and France and travelled and worked in Europe, Asia and Africa before emigrating to Australia in 1991. He lives in a house overlooking the city of Launceston in northern Tasmania.
IN THE VALLEY OF BLUE GUMS
J.H. Fletcher
Has a life of adventure lost her the man she loves? Another compelling novel from master storyteller J.H. Fletcher.
Journalist Thea Anderson’s adventurous life has been one of endless danger. Even her childhood, where she and her mother were forced to flee Malaya in the fish-stinking hold of a junk in the dying days of colonialism, was fraught with peril.
For a time it seemed she would find safe harbour in Tasmania in the arms of winemaker Peter Torrance, but her restless spirit cannot be contained. Thea’s ambition is to travel the world as a foreign correspondent but Peter is dedicated to his family vineyard in a blue gum valley: it seems their love must fail.
Thea makes her name internationally with her coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy then the escalating war in Vietnam, one of the only women in the field. Her job leads her further into peril and death stalks her all the way, until a return to Tasmania opens the door to a new and exciting career.
Will this opportunity allow her to become reunited with the man she used to love? Or has that dream vanished, like mist in the valley of blue gums?
A WOMAN OF COURAGE
J.H. Fletcher
A rags to riches story of a woman of indomitable spirit and of the passionate love that moulds and ultimately changes her life …
Fighting her way from humble beginnings in a foster home to CEO of her own highly respected international company hasn’t been easy for Hilary Brand. Even after she seems to have reached the top, troubles abound: her business in China, always fraught with problems, is in peril; and her arch-nemesis Haskins Gould – once her closest business associate, but now her greatest enemy – is gaining traction in his unceasing determination to destroy all she has created.
Hilary’s two daughters – unhappy trophy wife Jennifer and brilliant but troubled journalist Sara – also traverse the joys and terrors of love as they try to tread their own paths in the shadow of such a powerful woman.
From the vastness of Western Australia to glitte
ring Sydney and the teeming streets of Hong Kong and Singapore, this is a story of contrasting loves and of a woman of fierce determination … a woman of courage.
LAND OF GOLDEN WATTLE
J.H. Fletcher
An epic Australian saga of gold, love and land, spanning seven generations
1826, Van Diemen’s Land: When her father dies in a duel, 17-year-old Emma Tregellas is left with limited funds and at the mercy of her odious guardian. Faced with the prospect of being forced into marriage with a man she detests, she enlists the help of her true love, Ephraim Dark, who assists her to escape to faraway Van Diemen’s Land. Here she seeks sanctuary with her wealthy uncle Barnsley Tregellas.
1982, Tasmania: The union of Bec Hampton and Jonathan, heir to the fabulously wealthy Penrose estate, brought promise of reconciliation to two warring sides of the same family: a dynasty that had its foundations laid by Emma Tregellas and Ephraim Dark nearly a hundred years earlier. Defying opposition from Jonathan’s formidable grandmother, Bec had gained control of Derwent, the agricultural empire that the family had built from the early days of white settlement. Now 85, Bec’s dearest wish is that her granddaughter Tamara should inherit the property, but Giles, her dissolute son, has other ideas. Will Bec and Tamara succeed in defeating Giles’s plans or will control of Derwent pass irrevocably out of the family?
This majestic historical drama spans seven generations of an often-divided Australian family. With them we experience many of the traumatic events of Australia’s history: the early days of white settlement, the gold rush, the cataclysm of two world wars and the great depression.
WHITE SANDS OF SUMMER
J.H. Fletcher
Will wealth and love be theirs for the taking or will they run like sand through their fingers?
No one thought barmaid Shannon Harcourt stood a chance with Hal Maitland, heir to the vast Maitland fortune. Yet their unlikely relationship flourishes until, one summer’s day on the white sands of Charles Green Island, they realise their true feelings for each other – feelings that must motivate them to survive the coming war.
Forty years on, Shannon, a successful businesswoman and younger sister Jess, an accomplished chef, have left their days of poverty far behind. Shannon now has her sights set on purchasing the island where her young love began.
But when reclusive businessman, Dermot Black, becomes acquainted with Jess and shows interest in Charles Green, Shannon is wary of his motives. What could Black possibly want with the island, and why is he so interested in the Harcourt sisters?
A story of love and competing ambitions, and a reminder to never underestimate the determination of a woman.
ISBN: 9781489259066
TITLE: STARS OVER THE SOUTHERN OCEAN
First Australian Publication 2020
Copyright © 2020 by John Fletcher
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher:
Harlequin Mira ®
An imprint of Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Pty Limited (ABN 47 001 180 918), a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited (ABN 36 009 913 517)
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth St
SYDNEY NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its corporate affiliates and used by others under licence. Trademarks marked with an ® are registered in Australia and in other countries. Contact [email protected] for details.
www.romance.com.au
Stars Over the Southern Ocean Page 37