Provenance

by Jane Messer

An evocative and engaging novel of love, loss and the collision of cultures.Growing up in an Italian family in 1950s Queensland, Rafaela longs to move to Melbourne and start her own life. When she finally seizes her chance, floodwaters halt her train's progress south, and a beautiful young Sikh scientist named Chanchal captures her heart. While both their families search for their wayward children, Rafi and Chanchal forge ahead with their life together, living briefly in isolation and bliss on a farm, unaware that their story is travelling . . . Set against the stifling heat of the Queensland canefields, the lush farmland of northern New South Wales and the bustle of Melbourne in the early 1960s, Chanchal's and Rafi's stories unfold and intersect over the following years, as their chance encounter becomes a story of two countries on the cusp of modernity. Provenance is an accomplished and original novel that explores colour and cultural difference at a moment in India and Australia's post-Independence and post-war history when the West was keen, as one character puts it, to get on with the sexy part of the twentieth century.

Genres: Fiction

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

I write fiction and creative nonfiction—novels, memoir, radio plays, and short stories.

My latest book, Raven Mother: War, Family and Inheritance (NewSouth Publishing, 2026), is a memoir that traces the entanglements of history, inheritance, and family across generations.

I’m a devoted reader of Australian and international literature, especially writing in translation, alongside a long-standing love of genre—YA, speculative fiction, and fantasy.

Teaching writing has been a central part of my life. I’ve worked with writers since the early 1990s, including many years leading Creative Writing at Macquarie University. I now mentor writers one-on-one and run masterclasses.

In 2025, I founded StorySALOON—a live show and podcast bringing Australian short stories to the stage, performed by leading actors and shared with new audiences.

I hope to be writing more novels in the future: my last was Hopscotch (Picador, 2015). In recent years, alongside Raven Mother, I’ve been writing short stories— I’m sure that another novel will come knocking eventually!
I live in Sydney, on Gadigal land.
She/her

Reviews

[Anna Ridley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl runs away from home to realise her dream of attending art school. Along the way falls in love with a mysterious stranger, who has his own controlling family. Not a very romantic tone to this love story, quite dreary and miserable but an okay read.

[Patty Mcnamara]

A great Australian set book to read

[Andria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devoured it. Great book.

[Stefanie Myers]

A reminder of why you leave the north