Australian Historical Novel – The Katy Tree

Set in Hobart in the mid 1870s 21 year old Meg Hamilton arrives from England to discover why she has not heard from her grandmother for two years.After learning from cousins, Rissa and Angus MacGregor that her beloved Grandma Kate is serving a prison sentence for a murder committed twenty-eight years ago, Meg sets out to prove her innocent, and her quest leads her to her grandmother's old servant, Alice.From here on this is in a sense a story told within a story in flashbacks as Alice finally reveals to Meg the truth about the night of the murder, and how Kate Cameron, a woman before her time, had become involved in the political struggle to improve conditions for women convicts.There are still many unanswered questions however, and as Meg puts together the shocking pieces of the puzzle she becomes more vulnerable to evil forces that prevail.Threaded throughout the narrative is the infatuation of Rissa for a tall dark stranger, the faithfulness of Jeremy a young Scot who falls in love with Meg, and Aunt Katio who remains something of an enigma from start to finish, but around who much of the story hangs.Finally this story could be summed up as a conflict between the forces of light and darkness, played out in the lives of two young women of the Victorian era, one with a heart for truth and justice and the other with a destructive passion for prestige, property and position. Dorothy Dart is married,and lives with her husband at Belivah Q'ld. Her career as an author has spanned thirty years during which time she has continued to write intermittently whilst successfully raising a family of four, and now she is grandmother to eleven.After having had five novels for pre and early teens published during the 80s and early 90s she tried her hand at writing plays for use within her local church until in 2007 she made her first venture into the genre of the historical novel with a book based on the life of her husband's great-great-grandmother. This was followed in 2009 by the fictional novel 'The Katy Tree' which tells the story of a Scottish family who emigrate to Tasmania in 1824. Incidentally, after eleven years this is now available on Kindle. Many times since that book was published Dorothy's fans have asked for a sequel. So here it is, though if you have not read the first book, don't worry this second in the series has been written to stand alone.'When the Bough Breaks' tells of the dark hidden years in the life of the MacGregor family between 1832 and 1875. A real Whodunnit that keeps you guessing until the last!!!If you're interested in tales of Australia's rip roaring Colonial past this story is a must. Forget your mobile phones,facebook, twitter,and reality TV for a while and be transported back to another time and place where family secrets and intrigue prevail. Act now!! Buy it - read it - and please don't forget to review it, but most of all ENJOY!!!