Captain Starlight's apprentice

The story of two women living very different, heroic lives in two very different Australias. Jess, sold by her father and circus-raised, is a stunt-rider who can outride any man. In the early days of film she finds her calling, playing wild outlaw women who answer to no-one. However, when her Chinese circus-owner husband is killed she is left pregnant and vulnerable and, after enormous betrayal, finds herself closer to the outlaw's life than she had ever imagined. A generation later, Rose, heavily pregnant, migrates to Australia. But the new country is not all that she had hoped and neither is motherhood. Very quickly, she finds herself estranged from those she loves, incarcerated and terrified. As Rose's hope unravels it is clear that neither woman's story will be finished until they find a way of helping each other recover their loss, and to discover hope in the midst of their disrupted lives. With these wonderfully heroic protagonists, making a world for themselves despite the toughness of their environment and the cruellest twists of fate, Kathryn Heyman, author of the acclaimed The Accomplice, has created a a superbly-written, unique novel of remarkable deeds and extraordinary lives.