BOOKS
THE CRYING TREE SERIES
EMIGREE
Sentient beings. Grace found the term misguided, and paradoxical. People misunderstood the power of their senses, but she used her senses wisely.
Following her godfather's betrayal, Grace ignited a secret pact with 'beyond', a force of premonitions and visions, believing it would ensure her protection. Would she now live harmoniously? If not, would she be shown signs of impending catastrophe, too?
When the crushing jolt did arrive, Grace discovered that life was not always within her control, not as simple as keeping a pact with an unseen force. Disillusioned, but failing to block the persistent messages, Grace at last realised that the whispers she had heard all her life were real and could still be used for good, retribution and forgiveness.
Having escaped war-torn Hungary, Izabella's excitement about settling in the 'free' country of Australia soon turned to despair.
Cultural clashes, forceful removals, carelessness, misguided predilection - upheavals of people and nature often manifested in a niggling compulsion to return 'home'. Grace and Izabella discovered that things being in their rightful place is the secret to balance - a truth indigenes have always known.
Spanning more than two post-war Assimilation decades, The Crying Tree Series is an Australian story examining the universality of loss in the lives of two women from very different backgrounds. Displaced persons, friends, strangers and objects separate and collide in love, lust, disillusion, hate and death - all inevitably searching for their niche.
NICHE
Welcome the nudge of tiny fae wings skimming your cheek.
Unfurl your own, beloved. Prepare to be spirited away.
Fearing culpability for the loss of someone close, unpredictable firecracker, Fleur Alton, resorts to ripping everything apart: family, Tripp… even herself.
She aches for a supernatural power her mother Grace calls beyond, which often works with Nature, revealing portents to seers.
Fleur wills the ‘gift’ to empower her to find something deeper in life. She refuses to become shallow like her tormenting nemesis, who delights in digging away at dead things.
But beyond has its own agenda.
Caught in the liminal space between what she thinks she wants and what the universe decides must be, can a magical alliance and the tears from a sage old eucalypt save Fleur?
Will she find her niche?
Will it ultimately find her?
Niche is the fiery conclusion to
The Crying Tree duology.
“A book of power and imagination that binds the series and adds amazing follow on to the beauty and design of this talented author’s works…Wonderful reading…” Tabitha, IndieBook reviewer
Jane Ireland
Niche
PRAISE FOR AUTHOR
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Our runner-up for the flash fiction category, Jane Ireland, has produced a quirky story that demonstrates clever manipulation of language. Her deceptively innocent female protagonist will surprise readers with her devilish ways. A Most Literal Girl is a highly entertaining read.
''Niche' is a strong, elaborate work spanning intimate Australian portraits and vibrant historical sweeps. With its themes of post-war lives alongside the treatment of Indigenous people, betrayal, violence, redemption and reunion, the work courageously delves into complex terrain. There are powerful moments of writing and the potential for this audience is clear. The novel is ambitious and delivered with skill.'
Lauren Elise Daniels, BA, MFA, Creative Writing, Editor
'Annie Proulx is one of literature's greats. This manuscript is written the way I imagine her first attempts at writing a novel were written.'
Joshua Brockbank, re 'Niche', B.A. Journalism. Literary editor and Manuscript Assessor
BIO
Having grown up in the whimsical worlds of Alice, Pooh, and Millie-Mollie-Mandy, Jane still seeks literary experiences that lift and nourish.
Fascinated by human behaviour, she studied psychology, eventually achieving a postgraduate degree in teaching. Writing has now become her obsession.
On 24 March 2020, Jane published her debut novel 'Emigree' - the first book in 'The Crying Tree Series'. 'Niche', the second and final novel in the duology, is published on 25 November 2022.
Her third novel is emerging as a psychological thriller, set in an idyllic Queensland coastal town.
She is inspired by authors: Lee Kofman, Tim Winton, JP Pomare, Heather Rose, Robbie Arnott, Cass Moriarty, Mark Brandi, Peggy Frew, Donna Tartt, Dodie Smith, Neil Gaiman, Craig Silvey, Holly Ringland ...
Jane is a proud member of Queensland Writers Centre, and Writers Rendezvous in Dayboro.
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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