The Beautiful Mother
Page 44
At the conclusion of the novel, Essie says ‘though it hurt so much, what had taken place was the best possible ending for the story’. Do you agree?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katherine Scholes was born in Tanzania, the daughter of a bush doctor and an artist. When she was ten the family left Africa, going first to England, then migrating to Australia. She now lives in Tasmania with her husband and two sons, but makes regular trips back to her first homeland, where many of her books are set.
She is the author of international bestsellers including Make Me An Idol, The Rain Queen, The Stone Angel, The Hunter’s Wife, The Lioness, The Perfect Wife and Congo Dawn. She is particularly popular in Europe, where she has sold over two million books.
Her novel The Blue Chameleon won a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, and The Stone Angel was longlisted in the International Dublin Literary Awards. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages, and includes children’s titles as well as novels for adults. She has also worked as a documentary filmmaker.
katherinescholes.com
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
Make Me An Idol
The Rain Queen
The Stone Angel
The Hunter’s Wife
The Lioness
The Perfect Wife
Congo Dawn
Praise for Katherine Scholes
Congo Dawn
‘A big novel with a potent narrative.’ Tom Keneally
‘. . . a spellbinding portrait of a young woman searching for her roots, and a fascinating exploration of the history of the Belgian Congo in the 1960s.’ Femme Magazine (France)
‘This book has everything . . . a ripping yarn.’ Good Reading
‘. . . an epic saga full of wonderful characters . . .’ Télé Loisirs (France)
‘Scholes captures this region of Africa in all its beauty . . . loaded with hidden messages that are slowly revealed . . . a fraught journey of heartbreak and danger . . . Like the “velvet jungle” that forms an ever-powerful backdrop, Congo Dawn is layered and complex, textured and unshakeable.’ Saturday Mercury
The Rain Queen
‘Utterly bewitching.’ The Independent (France)
‘This most moving book, whose every breath is a love-song for Africa and her people, is a faultlessly woven cloth.’ Le Monde (France)
‘. . . a big, sensuous, splendid novel . . .’ Overland
‘With the subtlety of Doris Lessing . . . and the vision of Karen Blixen . . . the author of The Rain Queen has given us an intense vision of grief, solitude and the comfort of strangers.’ L’Express (France)
‘A superb novel . . . wonderful reading.’ Woman (Germany)
‘Disturbing and enthralling – an authentic African voice, exotic and magical. An amazing book. Fabulous reading.’ Madam Figaro (France)
The Lioness
‘An incredible saga . . . a spellbinding book filled with the essence of Africa and soul-searching lessons on motherhood.’ Chronicle
‘An exotic setting, a superbly crafted narrative and more than a passing look at what makes us human.’ Weekly Times
The Hunter’s Wife
‘Out of Africa meets White Mischief . . . A bittersweet, entertaining mix of Hollywood, obsessive love and the unbearable longing for what is not possible.’ Australian Women’s Weekly Book of the Month
‘Beautifully written.’ Herald Sun
The Stone Angel
‘Full of passion, fine writing and interesting observations about the way potent events that help shape one generation have an impact on the next. Wonderful stuff.’ Australian Women’s Weekly Book of the Month
‘A beautifully descriptive read and a soul-searching take on human relationships.’ New Idea
‘Scholes crafts her fiction with such care and subtlety.’ Weekend Australian
‘Scholes has masterfully captured those fateful moments that can change the course of many lives. The Stone Angel touches the senses with its rich descriptions of coastal Tasmania and emerges as a lovingly crafted account of a home we can never run away from.’ Good Reading
‘A truly absorbing book filled with secrets and conflicts.’ Woman’s Day
‘Scholes shows a rare ability to understand people in their specific geographical context and find within them the great surging passions of humanity.’ Sunday Tasmanian
Make Me An Idol
‘A superb novel.’ Cote Femme (France)
The Perfect Wife
‘The Perfect Wife takes readers on an exotic journey, exploring the struggle between duty, desire, jealousy and freedom in another era . . . hard to put down.’ Weekly Times
VIKING
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa | China
Viking is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published by Viking, 2020
Copyright © Katherine Scholes, 2020
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, published, performed in public or communicated to the public in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd or its authorised licensees.
Cover design by Louisa Maggio © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Cover photograph by Rohit Borkar/EyeEm/Getty Images
ISBN 9780143795353
penguin.com.au
Sign up to Read More and discover new favourites
Visit penguin.com.au/readmore
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Postscript
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements
Book Club Notes
About the Author
Also by the Author
Praise
Imprint
Read more at Penguin Books Australia