From forced adoption to prime-time television — a life lived with grit, grace and a touch of showbiz sparkle.In 1965, Jan Russ was a young Melbourne woman whose world fell apart overnight. Unmarried, pregnant and abandoned, she was pushed into a system that punished single mothers and stole their babies in the name of respectability. The loss of her daughter would shadow her life for decades — a wound carried quietly while the rest of the world saw her shine.And shine she di...

' You ask too many questions, Matilda. It' s not becoming in a girl.' But Matilda is full of questions. It' s the late 1800s in rural New South Wales and Matilda, as the oldest daughter, is expected to cook, clean and help Mama with her brothers and sisters. But her inquiring mind will not be stilled nor her rebellious spirit tamed. When frustration overcomes her, she finds escape in the land she loves and in her imagination, nourished by books. In the rust red landscape, both striking and...

Eighteen-year-old Lila is at a crisis point in her life. Alone and in the bath, she has just given birth to a premature baby she did not even know she was carrying. The baby is born dead. Numb with shock, denial, and disbelief, the young girl fears that her past will suffocate her. Now she must hide the truth from her family and friends, and she cant even begin to think what will happen if what happened is ever revealed. Unaware of Lilas troubles, her mother and brother slog their way thro...

REBELS AND REVENANTS features the dead and the undead, ghosts both figurative and literal, Elder Gods and Egyptian queens, and, funny enough, more than a little rebellion. Most of all, these eleven stories have heart, with a strong sense of family threading through them, either the one you're born to or the one you make.REBELS AND REVENANTS will teach you that when you find your place, you better stake a claim and stand by it.