Sisters of the Southern Cross

by Jean Grainger

Overview

Queensland, Australia 1936

Sister Claire McAuliffe has been called from Dungarvan, County Waterford, to do God's work in Jumaaroo, Queensland. Along with four other sisters she is charged with setting up a Catholic school for the education of the gold rush families. But life between the tropical Australian rainforest and azure ocean is far from the spectacular paradise it seems.

Sister Claire finds life challenging in more ways than she can count, the heat, the terrifying creatures that lurk in every nook and cranny, the crocodiles and snakes, but far more worrying is the constant presence of the much loved mayor of Jumaaroo, Joseph McGrath. Why does a person so respected give Claire such cause for concern? Is it the cruel way he speaks about the Aboriginal people who live on the mission? A closed community run by a peculiar religious leader who seems to deeply resent the arrival of the nuns?

As Claire learns of the manner in which the Bundagulgi are treated, she is forced to act, but nobody wants to upset the status quo, and a meddlesome nun suddenly is a dangerous one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781915790095
Publisher:	Jean Grainger
Publication date:	05/22/2020
Pages:	270
Sales rank:	268,426
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Jean Grainger is a USA Today bestselling Irish author. She writes historical and contemporary Irish fiction and her work has very flatteringly been compared to the late great Maeve Binchy. She lives in a stone cottage in Cork with her husband Diarmuid and the youngest two of her four children. The older two show up occasionally with laundry and to raid the fridge. There are a variety of animals there too, all led by two cute but clueless micro-dogs called Scrappy and Scoobi.

Editorial Reviews

Narrator Siobhan Waring delivers Grainger’s story of Irish nuns who open a school in Australia in the 1930s…Waring graphically describes the landscape of red earth and creepy-crawlies, as well as the people associated with the school.”

AudioFile

Narrator Siobhan Waring delivers Grainger’s story of Irish nuns who open a school in Australia in the 1930s. There, portly, outspoken Sister Claire braves extreme heat, hostility, and memorable locals, including Indigenous people. She even challenges conniving Mayor Joseph McGrath, credibly portrayed, over the way he treats the Indigenous community. Waring graphically describes the landscape of red earth and creepy-crawlies, as well as the people associated with the school, such as Sister Teresita, who makes bats for an Irish game. When Sister Claire—a Waring standout—realizes she’s in danger, she elicits the help of locals, further inflaming the situation and putting listeners on edge. Learning that the story is based on actual nuns in the 1900s makes this audiobook entertaining and educational. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile