Books by Elizabeth Rimmington

Sequel to the novel "Shadow of the Northern Orchid".This nineteenth-century novel begins in London 1867. Abigail Baldwin, recently widowed and pregnant faces an unpleasant decision. Abigail battles within herself; the determined woman against a lifetime of obeyance to her autocratic father. What will convince her to leave a comfortable lifestyle and join her twin brother? Doctor George Goldfinch plans to emigrate to Queensland where he hopes to set up a medical practice in the fledging town of Brisbane.Seven years later finds the Goldfinch Entourage aboard the “Northern Orchid” on a journey to Cooktown in North Queensland. This ill-equipped settlement is host to thousands of miners travelling to and from the goldfields on the Palmer River. Disillusioned miners are returning to Cooktown in poor physical condition. Many have died on the treacherous track. The group is here on a mercy mission as well as to assuage a need for adventure.Onboard ship is the stowaway Maureen Ryan who is on a quest of her own. She must find her father, a gold prospector, whom she hopes will be at the recent gold-find on the Palmer River.Abigail takes the young woman into her care offering support for the girl and her search.Cooktown reveals no evidence of Bert Ryan. Maureen realises she must make the dangerous trek to the Palmer River Goldfields if she is to find her father. Dressed as a young boy, Maureen joins a packhorse teamster, Silas, trading between Cooktown and the Palmer River goldfields. He claims to know Bert Ryan, her father. Will her disguise survive a two-week journey along a 200-mile track which claims the lives of miners seeking the gold on a daily basis?Can this innocent young woman trust Silas?

A nineteenth-century novel set in Queensland, Australia. Convict transportation had been ceased and the area opened to free settlement twenty-four years previously. Lucy Dougall dies; her four children orphaned. Fifteen-year-old Sarah will do whatever it takes to keep the family together; just as her mother had done. Any thoughts of romance in her life are quashed. When, like a tsunami wave, disaster strikes, grief and self-loathing overwhelm Sarah. It is the proprietor of Millie's Mariner's Rest; Hotel and Lodging who takes the family in and offers Sarah work as a trainee housekeeper. The girl flourishes under Millie's care, but Sarah's trauma remains deep inside. Millie's stepson, Jacko, develops an attraction for the young woman but is at a loss to understand why Sarah retreats at the most innocent touch of his hand. With patience and wisdom gained from living her life on the edge of acceptable society, will Millie guide the damaged young girl to maturity? Sarah's brothers, Josh and Gus, seek a berth on the Northern Orchid, the ship on which their father lost his life six years previously. Many who sail on the Northern Orchid believe Jimmy Dougall's ghost still walks the decks. At Captain Sloan's request, the lads spend seven months working on the Brisbane docks. Under the tutelage of a retired friend of the captain's, their purview is to learn all they can of steam engines and ships. It is here, on the docks, the lads discover they must fight to protect their jobs. The Northern Orchid, a coastal trader confronting the challenges of the partially mapped reefs of the Queensland Inner Channel, offers many experiences both in sea craft and in human nature. Will this be enough to carve young men from raw boys? Captain Sloan and Mate MacGregor mentor Josh and Gus as a favour to the dead Jimmy Dougall who had saved their lives on the day he was killed. Despite this, a life is lost, another life teeters on the verge of death, another must face the Bowen magistrate.