Kit Markham's world turns upside down when Jack, the boy she always believed she would marry, turns out to be her half-brother. At sixteen, feisty and headstrong, she leaves her home in Melbourne and flees to England. The year is 1855. Though unsure of where life will lead, she is determined to stay away long enough to regain control over her future and leave her feelings for Jack behind. The Crimean War is drawing to a close in Europe and nurses are needed on the hospital ships bringing the wounded back to Britain. Kit volunteers and meets a young Canadian who was severely wounded outside Sebastopol. After caring for him she realises a calling to train as a doctor and travels to America. As a young woman seeking a place in a man's world, she encounters both opposition and setbacks to her plan and must draw on her strength and resilience to survive. Kit marries Ned and finds she must step outside the accepted role of a doctor's wife and mother to his children to follow him onto the battlefields of the American Civil War. Further opposition both from her family and from authorities accompanies this decision and Kit is challenged to remain focussed on what she believes is important. Jack re-enters her life, muddying her resolve even more. Ultimately she must decide what it is that will grant her the fulfilment she seeks and make her truly happy.
About the Author: Dell Brand grew up in Sydney, attending North Sydney Girls High School and Sydney University. She taught in state high schools during her working life, teaching Physical and Health Education. She was recognised with the Minister's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Achievement in Education Award from the Australian College of Education. She has always had a keen interest in children with learning difficulties and challenging behaviours and worked for a number of years with a wilderness-enhanced program aimed at turning around young people's lives. This formed the basis of her PhD. In more recent years she developed a particular interest in family history and history in general. Dell was also a part-time journalist and was published by a number of editors both in Australia and abroad. She contributed regularly to four Australian magazines and frequently to newspapers where she used her own travel experiences to write first-hand of places she had seen and people she had met. Four children's chapter books in the History's a Mystery series were published in Australia and she has since self-published through Amazon four adult books, namely A Voice to be Heard, Cry to the Wind, Winfale Park and The Weif. More information about these can be found on her website www.authordellbrand.com.au Dell loves the outdoors, especially the wilderness. In her younger years she was a keen swimmer and an A grade squash player. She now enjoys all outdoor pursuits and tries to play golf regularly. She is married with two grown-up children and five funtastic grandchildren. She lives on the south coast of New South Wales.