I found Leonie Knapman’s book Glen Davis: A Shale Oil Ghost Town and its People 1938–1954 helpful in informing the background of the region during its mining years, as well as illuminating some of the area’s Indigenous history.
All my characters are fictitious, and I have used creative licence with the mystery surrounding Clara Black and Jean Peters. Many of the details about the town are drawn from real life. And the brutal stories of what happened to the Wiradjuri people are real – a reality that bears illuminating, remembering and telling the truth about.
For those readers who may have been triggered by the depictions of historical violence, domestic violence, post-natal depression and alcoholism, help can be found at lifeline.org.au, whiteribbon.org.au, blackdoginstitute.org.au and cope.org.au.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you Soph and Jeanette. If you hadn’t come with me on a random adventure to a far-flung valley, I never would have written this book.
And to Kirstin Bokor and Georgina Penney, your early feedback gave me the courage to submit my story to my wonderful publisher, Anna Valdinger. Thank you, Anna, for your insights into the manuscript and the much-needed chuckles. Thanks to my agent, Jeanne Ryckmans, for the excellent homeschooling debriefs.
Huge thanks to Catherine Milne, Barbara McClenahan, Lucy Inglis, Di Blacklock, Alex Craig, Pam Dunne, Amy Daoud and the whole wonderful team at HarperCollins. Thank you to all the passionate booksellers who are riding out such a hard year.
Danielle Townsend, your early edits were invaluable. Alexandra Joel, your messages and chats helped keep me sane. Karina Ware, thank you for the inspiring book suggestion texts. Abi Lewis, thank you for lending me your knowledge about gardens. Thanks to Ali Lowe and Judith Mendoza-White for the writing talks over coffee at Rosebery St. Thanks to Faye James for the beach walks, Emma Jane Hogan for the beautiful messages of support, Janneke Thurlow for all the playdate swapsies and support, and Joanna Wolfe for the luscious platters.
A big thanks to Diggers for his knowledge of police procedure and criminal law.
Bec McSherry, your unwavering belief in me means more than you know.
And to Ben, thank you for . . . everything.
To all the women in my life – this book is for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
VANESSA studied English and Australian literature at the University of Sydney and dreamed of one day writing fiction. She then went on to immerse herself completely in writing about real people, working as a journalist for 18 years. Vanessa has been a news, medical, entertainment and arts reporter for The Daily Telegraph and her writing has appeared in numerous other publications. She’s happy to now, finally, be creating fictional characters. She lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter.
ALSO BY VANESSA McCAUSLAND
The Lost Summers of Driftwood
COPYRIGHT
HarperCollinsPublishers
Australia • Brazil • Canada • France • Germany • Holland • Hungary India • Italy • Japan • Mexico • New Zealand • Poland • Spain • Sweden Switzerland • United Kingdom • United States of America
First published in Australia in 2020
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Vanessa McCausland 2020
The right of Vanessa McCausland to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with 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
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale 0632, Auckland, New Zealand
A 75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India
1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF, United Kingdom
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower, 22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3, Canada
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA
ISBN 978 1 4607 5956 1 (paperback)
ISBN 978 1 4607 1317 4 (ebook)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia
Cover design by Amy Daoud, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover images by shutterstock.com
Author photograph by Sally Flegg Photography
The Valley of Lost Stories Page 33