Australia, 1867: in the midst of a goldmining boom, a lone barrel drifts aimlessly down the Murray River with a frightened child sealed inside.
Rescued by river-boat captain Arnold Potter and named Alice, the child has little memory of her past, except for the fragmented images of a man in a long dark coat with peppermint sweets; a man who haunts her dreams and stalks her waking hours. But he is not the only thing Alice fears, for she has a gift which allows her to see the auras of those around her – a gift that sometimes enables her to foresee death.
This frightening ability will see Alice repeatedly abandoned and mistreated as she struggles to find acceptance among her peers. With her best friend Rosey at her side, she must chart the difficult path to adulthood against a harsh and unforgiving landscape.
Colours of Gold, by Kaye Dobbie, Harlequin Mira, $29.99
Australia, present day: Annie is a young single mother working as an arts restorer in her father’s business when she is given a recently rediscovered (yet badly damaged) painting. As she sets to work restoring the piece, she is drawn to the images of two, smiling young women whom she later learns were named Rosey and Alice.
As her work continues, Annie finds herself inexplicably drawn to the two women and frustrated by the lack of historical information available. Who were they? Why were their lives immortalised forever in this unusual painting? And could their story have something to do with the man in the long black coat who is stalking her and her daughter?
Colours of Gold is a beautifully written historical ghost story which transports the reader back to the booming Victorian goldfields, historical Bendigo and Echuca.
Author Kaye Dobbie paints a vibrant picture of early Australia and fuses this with her knowledge of modern-day Victoria to create a unique story which spans decades.
Alice and Annie are vibrant, resilient women struggling to forge their own paths in their respective times, and their stories unfold across alternating chapters – a technique which enables Dobbie to effortlessly switch between the two without sacrificing the flow of the novel. There is a subtle hint of mystery surrounding these characters, and the author goes to painstaking lengths to keep the truth hidden from the reader until the final surprising chapters.
By the end of the novel, Annie and Alice feel like more than just names on a page, earning admiration from the reader for their strength and unwavering determination.
With its fusion of contemporary and historical Australia, plus hints of ghosts and mystery, Colours of Gold is a heart-warming story.
