Alice Campion is the pseudonym for five members of a Sydney book club who challenged themselves to write a ‘21st Century Thorn Birds'. The result is a captivating rural novel, brimming with romance, mystery and suspense.

Nina never knew what happened to her father, the celebrated artist Jim Larkin. One minute he was her devoted dad, the next he'd disappeared without trace. Seventeen years later, she's still haunted by the mystery.

Until a call from outback Wandalla changes everything.

At first, Nina's inheritance of a waterless property and a farmhouse stuffed with junk seems more like a burden than a gift. But this was her father's childhood home – and possibly her last chance to discover the truth.

So what is the local solicitor, Harrison Grey, not telling her as he hands over the keys? Why does the area's wealthiest resident, Hilary Flint, seem to hate her so much? What is the significance of the gold locket with cryptic engravings that Nina always wears?

And why, on top of everything, is she inexplicably drawn to her soon-to-be-married neighbour, Heath Blackett?