Set in the untamed landscape of mid-nineteenth century Australia, The Dreaming is a rich and potent tale of hidden passion and broken taboo.
Australia, 1871 — Following her mother’s sudden death, Joanna Drury sets sail from India and arrives in Melbourne to claim the property left to her by her mother—and to trace the mysteries of her family’s past. From her first steps on shore, Joanna becomes entangled with a lost boy who leads her to the fascinating Hugh Westbrook. She agrees to look after the child in exchange for Hugh’s help in finding her inheritance. But she falls deeply in love with Hugh and with life at his sheep station, Merinda. When strange nightmares begin to plague her—the same that tormented her mother—Joanna starts to notice the Aborigines’ strange reaction to her. Delving into Australia’s past, she discovers the tragic events that have marked her family’s destiny and her own life, events that happened long ago in the time the Aborigines call “the Dreaming.”
Full of intriguing historical detail, Wood’s compelling story brings the clash of immigrant and Aboriginal cultures to stunning life, capturing the danger, mystery, and romance of an emerging country.
“Wood creates genuine, engaging characters whose stories are fascinating." —Library Journal
“Wood makes her fiction come alive with authentic detailing and highly memorable characters. Entertainment fiction at its best.” —Booklist
“Wood crafts vivid sketches of women who triumph over destiny.” —Publishers Weekly
“Wood shows herself a wizard at juggling action and romance, maintaining the momentum and sparkle of both.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A great summer book. It has everything—good characters, love, adventure, mystery and mysticism.” —Los Angeles Daily News
“Superb storytelling . . . a page turner.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Magnificent . . . everything a historical novel should be: big, bold, with larger-than-life characters chasing their dreams, and demons with equal fervor. The Dreaming has all that and more.” —Orange Coast Magazine
“Barbara Wood is an entertainer.” —Washington Post Book World
“A master storyteller. She never fails to leave the reader enthralled.” —Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of A Woman of Independent Means
Barbara Wood is an international bestselling author whose storytelling acumen was brought to new heights with the publication of Domina, which even prior to publication had racked up an impressive list of sales including a TV-Film contract, and was selected as a Literary Guild Alternate. To date, Barbara has written twenty-five books, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Barbara transports her readers to exotic countries that she has meticulously researched to provide them with a true sense of the culture and history relevant to each story. She has visited every country she has written about and in fact does not feel comfortable writing about a country that she has not walked on or breathed its air. In addition, she feels that the country of origin is by far the best source for research information. But research for a book does not end there. Barbara immerses herself completely into the subject at hand. This includes extensive reading of books, newspapers, and magazines, internet research, as well as first hand interviews and contacting experts in the various subjects relevant to her current project.
At the heart of every book is a strong, independent woman. Barbara is busy working on her next story that will, no doubt, showcase an extraordinary heroine in an exciting and intriguing adventure. Her many characters are fictional, but some are based on people she knows and people who are in the news and in history. Interwoven throughout her books are elements of herself in the main characters. While the majority of events that take place are fiction, some of the characters' experiences are her own. When not writing, Barbara often takes time to enjoy the work of other authors, and play golf with her husband, Walt
Sharyn Doolan loves to create magic behind the microphone where she worked for eighteen years as a radio announcer before venturing out on her own. Sharyn was born in the fabulous cosmopolitan city of Melbourne, Australia, but has since ventured north to the warmer Brisbane, or God’s Country as the locals say. As a teen Sharyn performed with a local amateur theatre company where she first acquired the performance bug. After the theatre, she moved into commercial radio where she emceed everything from Old Time Rock n' Roll to Talkback and pretty much everything in between. Now a fulltime voice actor, Sharyn can be heard on everything from radio & TV ads, to videos, E-Learning projects, and lucky for us—audiobook narrations. If you want to see what it looks like when someone truly loves what they do, then meet Sharyn Doolan.