‘I don’t know, do I?’ Star said.
‘I thought you might have come across her mail again.’
‘That was an accident. I didn’t mean to look at it.’
‘Well, wait till she goes out and have another accidental look. We might find out what’s worrying her.’
‘We could just ask,’ Star suggested.
‘Do you want your head bitten off?’ Rhoda said.
‘Not really.’
The taxi pulled up. Star took a last drag on her cigarette and they got in.
Rhoda said, ‘William Street, please, intersection with Bourke.’
The driver eyed her in the rear vision mirror. ‘Nice frock.’
‘Thank you very much,’ Rhoda replied, setting her handbag primly in her lap. ‘I made it myself.’
About the Author
DEBORAH CHALLINOR MNZM has a PhD in history and is the author of fifteen best-selling novels, including the Children of War series, the Convict Girls series and the Smuggler’s Wife series. She has also written one young-adult novel and two non-fiction books. She lives in New Zealand with her husband. In 2018, Deborah was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and historical research.
Also by Deborah Challinor
FICTION
THE RESTLESS YEARS Series
From the Ashes
THE SMUGGLER’S WIFE Series
Kitty
Amber
Band of Gold
The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter
CONVICT GIRLS Series
Behind the Sun
Girl of Shadows
The Silk Thief
A Tattooed Heart
CHILDREN OF WAR Series
Tamar
White Feathers
Blue Smoke
Union Belle
Fire
Isle of Tears
My Australian Story – Vietnam
NON-FICTION
Grey Ghosts
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2018
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Deborah Challinor 2018
The right of Deborah Challinor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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ISBN: 978 1 4607 5412 2 (paperback)
ISBN: 978 1 4607 0853 8 (ebook)
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
Cover design by Alissa Dinallo
Cover images: Woman by Giorgio Magini / stocksy.com / 1080202;
Auckland by Travelscape Images / Alamy Stock Photo
From the Ashes Page 43