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Shining River: The Australian small-town saga series
Australia, 1930s. Esther and Oliver have loved each other since they were children. Then their lives are thrown in very different directions. Can they find their way back to each other?
The Australian small-town saga series set in the early twentieth century. From one of Australia's best-loved authors with over 12 million books sold worldwide.
A family scandal changes Esther Hillman 's life forever. She loses everything she has ever known. Could she find help in unexpected places?
Oliver Harding has grown up the hard way. He is determined to build a better future for himself. But will he be able to put the past behind him?
Theodora Montgomery tells this story of star-crossed love, and how she tries to bring her childhood friends together. It is a bittersweet, touching story of secrets, ambitions and romance.
Lucy Walker's moving account of Australian life in the early twentieth century gives readers a fascinating insight into the landscape, people and customs of Australia one hundred years ago. The second in the series of six Pepper Tree Bay novels.
The Australian small-town saga series set in the early twentieth century. From one of Australia's best-loved authors with over 12 million books sold worldwide.
A family scandal changes Esther Hillman 's life forever. She loses everything she has ever known. Could she find help in unexpected places?
Oliver Harding has grown up the hard way. He is determined to build a better future for himself. But will he be able to put the past behind him?
Theodora Montgomery tells this story of star-crossed love, and how she tries to bring her childhood friends together. It is a bittersweet, touching story of secrets, ambitions and romance.
Lucy Walker's moving account of Australian life in the early twentieth century gives readers a fascinating insight into the landscape, people and customs of Australia one hundred years ago. The second in the series of six Pepper Tree Bay novels.
- GenresRomance
277 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1954
24 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Walker
102 books27 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 9, 2018
Sheer visual poetry crafted by the author in prose. She pulls us into the world of Oliver and Esther and makes us root for the childhood mates turned sweethearts.
And all this is done in a unique form of narration. The narrator is one of the minor characters in the story, a mutual friend to the leads, who plays Cupid at crucial scenes to unite the lovers.
We get to see an imperfect but nevertheless magical small town near Perth where all the characters live as children, and eventually come back as adults.
Oliver is a lovable rogue, who is a wizard with cars, who rises from the gutter to become a sporting legend. His one weakness in life - his obsession for Esther.
Esther, a poor little rich girl, who is robbed of a natural childhood and who doesn't have the guts to protest. Eventually, after she grows up , she continues to live with her eccentric and somewhat evil benefactor out of sympathy for the old lady. Esther is characterised as one with angelic looks, a soft heart and an industrious nature. One thing that's constant in her life is her rock solid love for Oliver.
Another lovely aspect of this story is the unique bond that each child character shares with one elderly benefactor - Oliver with Cutty Banister, Hilary with Mr Taylor and the best of all Esther with her teacher Mr Sweeting.
Hilary is the quintessential OW in Oliver's life, a gritty practical girl in direct contrast to lovely feminine Esther. A girl who manages to spark his interest, not his love. And in the process earns the sympathy of the readers. She also turns out to be Esther's go-to person in a final moment of crisis.
A must read, the book will inspire wannabe authors to take up stories they are passionate about even if the effort is to be painstaking.
5 stars, amazing read.
And all this is done in a unique form of narration. The narrator is one of the minor characters in the story, a mutual friend to the leads, who plays Cupid at crucial scenes to unite the lovers.
We get to see an imperfect but nevertheless magical small town near Perth where all the characters live as children, and eventually come back as adults.
Oliver is a lovable rogue, who is a wizard with cars, who rises from the gutter to become a sporting legend. His one weakness in life - his obsession for Esther.
Esther, a poor little rich girl, who is robbed of a natural childhood and who doesn't have the guts to protest. Eventually, after she grows up , she continues to live with her eccentric and somewhat evil benefactor out of sympathy for the old lady. Esther is characterised as one with angelic looks, a soft heart and an industrious nature. One thing that's constant in her life is her rock solid love for Oliver.
Another lovely aspect of this story is the unique bond that each child character shares with one elderly benefactor - Oliver with Cutty Banister, Hilary with Mr Taylor and the best of all Esther with her teacher Mr Sweeting.
Hilary is the quintessential OW in Oliver's life, a gritty practical girl in direct contrast to lovely feminine Esther. A girl who manages to spark his interest, not his love. And in the process earns the sympathy of the readers. She also turns out to be Esther's go-to person in a final moment of crisis.
A must read, the book will inspire wannabe authors to take up stories they are passionate about even if the effort is to be painstaking.
5 stars, amazing read.
July 5, 2023
Shining River
Such a complicated story,heartbreaking and cold in someways,yet full of love and best friends that cared. Wanted everyone to have peace in their loves. Enjoyed it all.
Such a complicated story,heartbreaking and cold in someways,yet full of love and best friends that cared. Wanted everyone to have peace in their loves. Enjoyed it all.
January 26, 2023
A Vast Change From Lucy Walker's Romances
Walker's writing is very good. What I could not like about this "romance" was the strange plot. Esther and Oliver grow up together in Pepper Tree Bay. Oliver moves away and Esther is taken to live with rich and unliked Mrs Riccard. Her parents do not complain and no explanation is given. Years later Oliver, now wealthy and a famous sports car racer comes back. He has not stopped loving Esther nor she him. Then comes the strange story of the deaths of Esther's father and Mrs Riccard. The whole story is told by Theodora of Six for Heaven in the 1st person. No romance, no sex appeal, no tension as Esther is too strange.
Walker's writing is very good. What I could not like about this "romance" was the strange plot. Esther and Oliver grow up together in Pepper Tree Bay. Oliver moves away and Esther is taken to live with rich and unliked Mrs Riccard. Her parents do not complain and no explanation is given. Years later Oliver, now wealthy and a famous sports car racer comes back. He has not stopped loving Esther nor she him. Then comes the strange story of the deaths of Esther's father and Mrs Riccard. The whole story is told by Theodora of Six for Heaven in the 1st person. No romance, no sex appeal, no tension as Esther is too strange.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews