‘Be gentle with Nan, Jack,’ Nina calls after her son.
‘Nan, you’ll never guess what me and Tyson did yesterday. He’s so cool for a big brother.’
‘He is and you’re right, my gorgeous one, I’m sure I don’t know what you boys got up to. Hello, darling.’ Ava looks up as her daughter bends down to lower the pink bundle into her arms. ‘Hello, my precious princess.’
‘Jack, sweetie,’ Nina says, her arm resting on Ava’s shoulder, ‘how about you go find Poppy and tell him about the new pigs? Let Nan cuddle Ivy.’
‘Okay.’
For a while, three generations of women huddle together without words, and Ava’s thoughts drift to her father. Marco would be so proud. He’d be shouting from the rooftops: ‘See what love can do, my little dragonfly?’
‘Nice sunset,’ Nina says.
‘Perfect.’ From where she sits, Ava can see through a gap in the trees all the way to the small cottage at the bottom of the hill by the Candlebark Creek that continues to pump life into a land of amazing contrast and beauty, no matter the season. ‘My favourite place in the whole world is right here.’ She looks down at little Ivy in her arms. ‘Right now.’
‘Blair and I did okay, eh, Mum?’
‘You definitely did, darling.’
‘Muuuuum!’ Jack is back and tugging at Nina’s skirt. ‘Can we have dinner yet?’
‘As soon as Nan’s ready and I have the table set,’ Nina tells him.
‘You go, darling. I’ll sing out when I’m ready to come inside. Here, take Ivy to Poppy. I have a card to finish writing.’
‘Okay, come on, Jack, leave Nan.’ Her daughter takes charge, and what a wonderful, strong and loving mother she has become.
Ava takes up the pen and reads what she’s already written:
Darling Jack and Ivy,
There isn’t a second in the day – in fact there's 86,400 of them – that I’m not remembering how blessed I am to have lived long enough to know you both and to have known love. To see you being delivered into this world, Ivy, to have witnessed your struggle and your strength makes me believe in miracles. From that moment I knew you were a Marchette.
The memories from a life well lived still buffet Ava with such force that she is momentarily left wondering if she will breathe again. She presses the palm of her hand against her chest, four fingers curling into a fist around the dragonfly brooch so tightly that she can feel her nails pressing little half-moons into the soft, thinning flesh of her palm.
You and your big brother are special for so many reasons and that’s why I am writing this card. One day, darling Jack, you will take possession of my pearl ring and I hope it leads you to find the love of your life. While to my sweet Ivy, I’ll leave my dragonfly brooch – a symbol of courage, strength and happiness. May Fate be good to you both.
As she pauses to consider her next words, her breath catches as an iridescent-blue dragonfly hovers into view, its busyness overshadowed by its brilliance. For a creature whose lifecycle offers flight for a fraction of its life, the dragonfly makes the most of sometimes only months and Ava knows what to write next.
If there is any advice I can leave behind for you it is to choose to live in the moment; to be aware of who you are and, like the busy dragonfly, make the most of your life and live it without regrets. Understand there may be moments when you feel loved by many but still feel lost. I was for years, and it’s those times that truth and family are your best friends.
If I knew the secret to happiness I’d tell you both. Instead, you’ll have to find your own way by travelling far, finding your place, loving deeply and being loved in return. And if I could wish for one thing, it is that you’d known your great-grandfather, Marco, who once said those words to me.
Ava puts down her pen to let the surge of tears recede as she listens. Ivy-May is full of people. They are her family and they’re all waiting for her. She tilts her face to the sky. The moon is already high, the first night star nearby. ‘A wish first.’
Listen, Papa, can you hear the happy sound of family? They are my family. I did get all those things you wanted for me. I have loved and been loved so deeply in return. How I wish you were here to see for yourself.
‘But I am here, my little dragonfly. I’m right here, in front of you. Can’t you see me? I’m right here, sweet girl.’ Marco tucks the blankets snug around Ava’s body and she is a child again. As he leans in for the customary goodnight kiss on her nose she smells Brylcreem, and when a wayward oily spiral of black hair breaks free she smiles.
‘If only I wasn’t so tired, Papa. Some days I want to sleep for ever.’
‘No, Ava, you are strong. So very strong that I must let you go. You have family at that kitchen table and a place waiting for you there.’
‘Wow, Poppy, see that?’ Jack’s excitement opens Ava’s eyes. ‘A dragonfly was right there on Nan’s knee.’
‘So it was,’ John said smiling down. ‘You need me to help you up, sleepyhead?’ He holds out a hand to her.
‘I need you to hold me.’ Today, Ava is feeling every one of her sixty-eight years, but as usual family gives her strength. She stands and leans into John’s waiting embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and breathing the scent of him. ‘I never want to leave this place.’
‘Well, my love, we can’t control our destiny, but we’ve made sure our love story doesn’t end when we die. It will live on in our family but right now that family is hungry.’ John crooked an arm. ‘Your table is ready, madam, and the panna cotta is perfect.’
We hope you enjoyed this book.
Jenn J. McLeod’s next book is coming in spring 2019.
For more information, click the following links
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements
About Jenn J. McLeod
An Invitation from the Publisher
Author Note
Dear readers…
I’m sorry to break the bad news… Candlebark Creek and the Iron Pot Hill Farmstay Retreat do not exist. The characters, their names and the events in this story are fictitious, and no resemblance to any persons living or dead is intended. What does exist is the amazing landscape halfway between Rockhampton and Yeppoon in central Queensland’s Capricornia region, consisting of twelve remarkable and ancient volcanic plugs, known collectively as the Mount Hedlow trachyte.
I was privileged to work on this manuscript while camped in a paddock, under the shadow of Mount Hedlow, and finding my muse among the striking landscape that has been home to five generations of the Barrett family since 1865.
While Candlebark Creek is fictional, Henderson Park Farmstay Retreat on the road between Rockhampton and Yeppoon was an incredible place to write and I am so excited to be bringing you, lovely readers, my fifth novel – A Place to Remember.
Enjoy!
Jenn J. McLeod
Acknowledgements
I could not have been more ready for a new chapter in my writing life than I was with this story, my fifth published novel. Since the moment House for All Seasons made #5 bestselling debut novel in Australia (2013), I have continued to grow by challenging myself to do more, because success as a writer is not about duplicating what you’ve already done. Sometimes an author needs to change and be brave, both with their craft and dreams, and my dream has always included having my books available all over the world.
It is my lovely readers who keep me going in this topsy-turvy publishing biz and when ‘things’ get hard it is your eagerness for more books that makes me ‘suck it up and get on with it’. You encourage me to be brave and your connection online and lovely comments (and the reviews and word of mouth to your fiction-loving family and friends) help me make the big decisions. So, please keep spreading the word and recommending people read my books. I especially need help to reach readers outside Aus/NZ. Wherever you live, please tag me if you post your photo with my book online somewhere. (You’ll find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.)
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br /> If someone had told me that I would one day be working with Rosie de Courcy, who edited Maeve Binchy’s books for twenty-three years and who back in 1976 sat cross-legged in her lounge room until late into the night reading an unpublished manuscript titled The Thorn Birds, I would have said, ‘Pull the other one and pour me wine’. But here I am. Rosie and Head of Zeus CEO, Amanda Ridout, championed my manuscript all the way from the boldest pitch (i.e. seriously crazy) to this beautiful book in your hands. In fact, the entire Head of Zeus team shared my dream to see A Place to Remember reach more readers.
So, first and foremost, Head of Zeus, thank you for giving my story the wings to soar and to settle into the hands of readers all over the world. Australia is such a uniquely beautiful place it is a privilege and a joy to write stories that bring readers to my part of it.
Rosie de Courcy… What can I say? You and your editing team of Clémence Jacquinet and Sophie Robinson have been fabulous. And you were so right about Hazel Orme. Under her guidance, I was able to push myself to make the story worthy of the prettiest cover ever, thanks to Art Director Jessie Price. What a thrill that you were able to acquire the painting Rockhampton Queenslander by Noosa artist John Newman. To have the painting that inspired the look and feel of my Ivy-May homestead feature on this cover has made the book all the more special.
Every story I write starts out as a small kernel of an idea. It’s nourished, takes root, and grows into a book, but there is always a dedicated bunch of people who sprinkle the magic needed to let it flourish and to ensure it’s found on lots of shelves. Thank you to the Sales and Marketing team, in particular: Victoria Reed, Suzanne Sangster, Clare Gordon and the International Publishing team at HarperCollins (AU) who support Nicola Woods.
As a family saga spanning thirty-five years, A Place to Remember has been my most ambitious novel to date and the story and the setting would not be anywhere near as powerful if not for the very real and wonderful bunch – The Barrett family et al. When I arrived for a short stay with the Barretts in 2015 (how we first met is a story in itself) I already had a completed draft of this novel set around Noosa’s hinterland. But the inexplicable pull of that intriguing Capricornia region was such that I had to rewrite the story to fit the landscape. Thank you, friends, for letting me park my caravan in the middle of the action while I finished this story. Your real lives on the land added a special something and took my story to a level I’d never imagined. (And that short stay in the paddock turned into a long one.)
Thank you Marie, David and Gina for sharing your family’s history over the occasional glass of wine. To Annika, Ryan, little Alyssa, and baby bump Asher (and the team who help operate the delightful Henderson Park Farmstay Retreat) thank you for the experiences – yes, the prairie oysters made the story. And thank you for letting me steal some of your often hilarious and sometimes poignant descriptions of life ‘around the ridges’. A special thank you to Annika and Ryan for the lessons, for sharing so many favourite things, and for teaching me to pause before the business part of the day.
Before I sign off, special recognition must go to the delightfully different muses I was fortunate to have on my doorstep at Henderson Park – literally – while I wrote. I loved sharing my day with the kangaroos, the horses, Pretty Boy (the big black Brahman), and Ed (his horny mate), and of course the working dogs (and Dash the dachshund who thinks he’s a farm dog).
Meet all my Henderson Park writing muses at: www.jennjmcleod.com/hpk
If you’d like to follow @JennJMcLeod_NomadicNovelist as I travel Australia in the purple and white caravan I call Myrtle the Turtle, or for information on my other novels, join me on www.jennjmcleod.com
Happy travels.
Jenn J. xx
About Jenn J. McLeod
After leaving the corporate working world, Jenn J. McLeod decided to travel Australia in a fifth-wheeler caravan and fulfil her lifelong ambition to write. She has since published four novels.
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An Invitation from the Publisher
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Jenn J. McLeod, 2018
The moral right of Jenn J. McLeod to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781786699916
ISBN (HB) 9781786699923
ISBN (XTPB) 9781786699930
ISBN (PB) 9781786699947
Head of Zeus Ltd
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