Garth
Book 1
Of Angels
and Eagles
Edward Garth & Susannah Gough
James Bellett & Ann Harper
1783 - 1808
In the 1700s in Great Britain four souls were born, four souls no more and no less important than any other.
In the years that followed circumstance conspired to bring them all together, to an improbable location, as distant from their imaginations as the likelihood of inhabiting the moon or the stars.
Edward the farmboy, Susannah the prostitute, Jacob the silk weaver and Ann the urchin are all ultimately transported from England to Norfolk Island, the place of Angels and Eagles.
Garth
Book 2
Perseverance
1808 - 1864
Having been forced to abandon their homes on Norfolk Island, the Garths and Belletts find themselves in Van Diemen's Land. There, they are faced with disease, bushrangers and the growing conflict between settlers and aboriginals.
The families struggle with all the hardships that come with living in this new place as they try to start again and make a success of their lives.
James Garth, Edward and Susannah’s eldest son, the explorer and adventurer, perseveres in making his dreams a reality.
In the decades that follow, triumph and tragedy are visited upon them and with the birth of the next generation comes again the promise of tomorrow.
Love, tenacity, resolve, purposefulness...PERSEVERANCE
Perseverance, Book Two of the Garth Trilogy, is the sequel to Of Angels and Eagles.
Review - Of Angels and Eagles:
‘The characters of the book generally tell their own stories in the course of the narrative. This technique is masterfully done and sustains the reader throughout…
By the end of the book we have been introduced to the coming of age of some of the next generation, and already we have been given inklings as to how their lives will intertwine as the move is made to Van Diemen’s Land.
Your reviewer can hardly wait to know more, and is keenly looking forward to Book Two…
A great read thoroughly recommended’ - Founders Magazine, November 2016
Garth
book 3
The Promise of Tomorrow
1864-1921
There was plenty of spotted gum around the lake and it made reasonable building material. Edward had fenced the piggery with it and a combination of large stones. It was in a clearing about 100 yards from the cottage and as they walked through the endless pine needles that had fallen from the forest of casuarina, the pigs started squealing. They hadn’t been fed that day and with the children came the promise of food. As they walked, Lil struggled to carry Benjamin, putting him down then picking him up, shuffling him from hip to hip.
As Lil looked over the fence she could see the new piglets were suckling and her attention was drawn to the runt of the litter who had been pushed aside by the bigger ones and lay squealing away from his mother. She put Benjamin down and climbed over the fence. The other pigs shoved at her as she tried to make her way to the runt. The flies were menacing, there was no breeze and the smell was enough to make James hurry Lil along, ‘Come on Lil, let’s go it stinks.’
Lil lingered, picking up the runt, ‘I want to bring the little one. I can feed him myself’.
‘No just leave him, come on, I have to get back to put more chips on the fire.’
James turned and began picking up kindling. Lil put down the runt, climbed out of the pen and looked about to see where Benjamin was. ‘James, where’s Benny, I can’t see him? Davie where’s Benny?’ Lil looked searchingly through the maze of trees, ‘Benny! Benny!’ But he was gone...
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