Waiting at the Sliprails (The Convict Birthstain Collection

by Sara Powter

The Bathurst Road 1830s A Convict’s Tale Bea Dawes’s term of conviction nears an end, and she has few options other than marriage to a stranger or going on the street. Jack Barnes , the hired drover, wants a wife. Bea accepts his offer; then she discovers that he could be gone for months, leaving her alone with Billy and Netty , part of the tribe of aborigines who live on his secluded farm. Bea learns to love her husband and also this wonderful aboriginal couple. Drought ravages the farm, and Jack must hit the long paddock with the flock. In his absence, a visitor arrives, destroying everything she has worked so hard for. Can Bea cope? Will the drought ever end? And when will Jack return?

207 pages, Paperback

Published August 3, 2023

About the author

Sara was born on the NSW Central Coast. Her childhood was spent with her parents, mainly travelling up and down the East Coast of Australia, fishing, shell collecting and doing some of her education by Correspondence Schooling. With a passion for science, she worked for the Department of Agriculture as a Scientific Assistant in the Entomology Department. She married Stephen soon after leaving there, and they spent 30 years in Ministry in the Newcastle Anglican Diocese in NSW, only retiring at the end of 2020. When 'Covid 19' hit, time was available to pen some of the stories she'd wanted to write for some time. Within twelve months, eight stories were finished, and ideas for more were on the way. These stem from her passion for Colonial Australia, her convict Ancestors and the remarkable history of the amazing country, Australia! Sara wrote these as she wished to finish one of her mother's unfinished manuscripts.
The series prequel, "Dancing to her Own Tune", is now completed and ties in Sheila Hunter's Australian Trilogy with Sara's Lockley series.
Sara is currently working on her 13th story, but... Watch for more!
Cover Paintings are mostly by Joseph Lycett, an Early Colonial artist
(NB Sheila Hunter is Sara's mother)


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Reviews

[C. S. Flanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful reading

Sara Powter is a great author. This was my second book by her and in this series to read. Her books are realistic, filled with true life feelings, without explicit details of sexual activity; they are enjoyable clean reading fiction. I find it hard to put her books down!

[Lee Boehm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful story that continues the stories of characters from other books and introduces new ones. Incredible descriptions of colonial life. This book will make you look for the next and the next to find out how the characters fare.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. It was such a sweet romance story about a convict girl being sent to Australia in the early 1800s & everything that happens to her.

[Sue Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waiting at the Sliprails

A very easy book to read with lots hidden messages about life. Some good descriptions of early Australian farmers and their ingenuity and survival.

[Lee Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story of the era where sometimes choices were made from convenience and companionship and as time passes true love grows even independently of each other. Life was hard in those days and they did what they could. With Sara's skilful writing the resolution and restoration is always a joy.