Travel the world with our Australian Queen of African writing.
Katherine Scholes was born in Tanzania, the daughter of a missionary doctor and an artist, and has fond memories of going on safaris to remote areas – her father running a clinic from his Land Rover. ‘We four kids were allowed to do anything we liked,’ she says, ‘as long as we avoided getting bitten by snakes, or eaten by crocodiles or other wild animals. We fished and hunted and swam in rivers.’ Now based in Tasmania, from her desk overlooking the coastal cliffs, thousands of kilometres from her birthplace, she’s able to transport readers to spectacular locations around the world. ‘It’s as if I can feed off a powerful presence of a natural environment,’ she says, ‘and it doesn’t matter which one it is – just as I can feel at home in Tanzania as well as Tasmania.’
Here we take a walk through Scholes’ vivid international sojourns.
The Beautiful Mother
In remote Tanzania, a chance encounter leads to a rash promise, with life-altering ramifications. As Essie's heart opens up to new life, she is drawn into the ancient wisdom of the Hadza, the last hunter-gatherer tribe in East Africa. But after a short time of unexpectedly being a mother, will Essie be able to survive the hardest challenge of all – to love, and then let go?
Congo Dawn
You can’t go back and change the past. All you have left is the future.
Inspired by real events, Congo Dawn combines epic drama with an intimate journey into the heart of a fractured family, as two characters, in search of people they lost, at last find a way to come home. It is a landmark novel about good and evil, and the inexhaustible power of love.
The Lioness
When Emma Lindberg travels to a remote corner of Africa to visit the research station where her mother died years ago, all she wants is to finally lay her grief to rest. Instead, she finds herself caught up in the search for a missing child.
The Perfect Wife
Kitty Hamilton arrives in Tanganyika with high hopes for her new life. An exciting adventure halfway across the world could be just what she and Theo need to recover from the scandal that almost tore them apart. But in this wild and foreign land, her dreams soon begin to unravel.
Make Me an Idol
Go in search of your mother by all means, but don’t count on what you’ll find…
Moving from the rugged Tasmanian coast to the ashrams of India and the Himalayan foothills, Make Me an Idol is a beautifully touching story about how to be a mother, and how to live without one.
The Stone Angel
Stella heads home to Halfmoon Bay, the Tasmanian fishing village where she grew up. She desperately doesn’t want to face the painful memories that await her. But as she takes part in the search for her father, the life of her old home draws in around her. She finds herself taken back to that extraordinary summer when she met a young man who was sailing the world alone. A time of devastating tragedy, but also of first love…
The Rain Queen
Kate Carrington has cut all ties with Africa, the land of her birth. Her past is buried alongside her missionary parents, the last reminders locked safely away in the attic. But when a mysterious woman moves in next door, Kate’s carefully constructed world is torn apart.
The Hunter's Wife
Mara, a young Australian, marries a big-game hunter who lives on the spectacular grasslands of East Africa. Three years later, their safari lodge is in trouble - and so, too, is their marriage. The Hunter's Wife is a powerful and moving story of a young woman's heartfelt struggle to reconcile duty and desire, set against the breathtaking backdrop of Tanzania.
