Showing results by narrator "Olivia Beardsley" in All Categories

It is 1941. Eighteen-year-old Ruby leaves behind the family farm, her serious mother and roguish father and heads for Adelaide. After a brief courtship, she enters into a hasty marriage with a soldier about to go to war - who returns a changed man. With an eyebrow pencil in one hand and gardening shears in the other, Ruby navigates the years doing her duty as a woman, contending with her damaged husband and eccentric in-laws, allowing marriage and motherhood to fill her with purpose and pleasure - and only occasionally wondering, is this all there is?

Cait is a bookshop owner and book nerd. Her social life revolves around her mobile bookselling service, which hand-picks titles for elderly clients, particularly the grandmotherly June. After a tough decade, Book Fiend is the last bookshop in the central business district and the last independent retailer on a street given over to high-end labels. Profits are small, but clients are loyal. When James breezes into Book Fiend, Cait realises life might hold more than her shop and her cat.

Who knew overhearing a private conversation would change her life forever? When Kimberley Riordan realises how much trouble her long-time friend Quinn Calthorpe is in, she knows she must find a way to help him. But if Quinn discovers her plan, Kimberley knows he will leave Augathella and lose his cattle station. She enlists the help of her sister, determined to make Quinn fall in love with her, even though she isn't in love with him.

Bec Hunter, an Augathella local and nurse at the local hospital, is driven by a strong work ethic and commitment to her career. Working and studying for a Master's degree in dementia leaves her little time for socialising. She has a life plan that does not include a relationship. Travelling guitarist Matt Randall is new to town and doesn't intend to stay long, but his plans are thrown into turmoil when he is injured rescuing a young child, and is admitted to the hospital. Intense chemistry sparks between patient and nurse.

Popular lifestyle blogger Libby Cartwright is being boggled by business when help shows up in the shape of gorgeous but shy Charlie Richmond. Libby’s determined to keep it at ‘just good friends’ - she’s dated someone from ‘Corporate Land’ before, and it didn’t end well. As she and Charlie begin spending more time together, Libby is starting to waver - until she discovers something which makes her question if she’s ready for love.

Helicopter pilot Ellie Porter loves her job. Soaring above the Kakadu National Park, she feels freed from the questions around her father’s suicide and the heavy loss of her beloved family farm. But when a search-and-rescue mission on the boundary of the old farm reveals unusual excavation works, Ellie vows to investigate.

She's the victim. But is she so innocent? Sophie McCarthy is known for her determination, ambition and brilliance at work. She's tough, but only because she wants to get the best out of people. Aidan Ryan is strong, honourable and a family man. He's tough, too; the army requires it. When these two strangers are brought together in a devastating incident, Sophie's life is left in ruins. Her family wants to see Aidan pay for what he did. Aidan's prepared to sacrifice everything - including his marriage and his child - to fix the mess he's made.

It’s 1850, and the Noble family have travelled to the other side of the world to start a new life after scandal drove them from their native England. Pippa Noble is determined to reclaim their honour by making her father’s plan for an outback farm a reality, although her ambition is frowned upon by a society that has very set ideas about a woman’s place. Pippa learns the hard way about the unforgiving nature of the bush, sometimes with devastating consequences.

When entomologist Emlyn Rees arrives at Hidden Valley she wants nothing more than to escape her marriage breakdown by burying herself in the research team's hunt for new species of insects in the depths of the dramatic Undara lava tubes. Travis Carlyle is initially resistant to letting some city folks tramp over his cattle station, though the researchers' findings bring opportunities to turn around his struggling farm. But when things start going wrong for the farm and around the dig site, Emlyn and Travis are at a loss to understand why.

Kindergarten teacher Jacinta Mason is horrified when she attends the hen's night at the local pub for Sophie Cartwright, her future sister-in-law. Meeting Ryder Francesco again leaves her reeling. His new career is a far cry from his past studies in medical research. Jacinta is the last person Ryder expected to encounter on the outback tour with his male dance troupe. Circumstances have changed his life drastically since he had to leave her. Jacinta is torn. The hurt from her past tells her to steer clear of Ryder, but her heart wants to dig deeper and find why he really left

When a man is found gruesomely murdered in the local pub, all fingers point to the backpackers working behind the bar that night—two American girls who skipped town before the body was discovered. Despite all the evidence against them, rookie cop Tara Harrison knows there must be more to this case than a pair of sorority sisters who couldn't take a joke. She's determined to uncover the truth, and is soon on the trail of a devastating secret that could tear her hometown apart.

When Laura Adnum arrives unexpectedly in Augathella to visit the three sons of her deceased sister Julia, it seems she is there to cause trouble. Laura is not impressed that her brother-in-law Braden Cartwright is planning to marry Callie Young. Newly appointed local doctor Harry Higgins is surprised when Laura insists on visiting him to check that the care of her three nephews is adequate. Harry has his own demons and has come to Augathella for peace and a quiet life. Harry is suspicious of Laura's motives. Why has she suddenly decided to visit three nephews she has never met?

The Daintree breeds survivors - those who can weather the storms, heat and floods that come hand in hand with its beauty. Doctor Emma Porter is one such survivor, living in an isolated cottage as past hurts heal, dedicated to her patients and to preserving this precious land where she has made a home. But her quiet life is disrupted when Doctor Jeremy Langford starts working at the hospital, bringing back painful memories: Jeremy was her first love and embodies all that she left behind in Sydney.

Amelia Foley's parents hoped for a professional career in the city for their only daughter. But she hates city life, and sets off to work as a jillaroo on Kilcoy Station. Local shire building inspector Ben Riley visits Kilcoy to advise Braden Cartwright on a planned expansion. After a run-in with Amelia's sidekick - Chilli, the golden retriever - Ben insists she and her pet come to town to attend the local dog obedience classes. As the jillaroo and the inspector spend more time together, attraction grows quickly.

When Sophie Cartwright comes home to Augathella, she doesn't get the welcome she expected. Her brother, Braden, has got his father act together, the new staff at Kilcoy Station are keeping things running, and Sophie, well, she feels...unwanted. As for her ex, Kent Mason, he and his attitude could go take a flying leap.

Two years after a family tragedy, and still consumed by her grief, Willa receives a strange letter from halfway across the globe. She has inherited a house in Australia, in a town she’s never heard of, from a woman she doesn’t know.... Following the mystery to the inviting shores of Sisters Cove, Willa is entranced by the dilapidated old Chapel House she now owns, perched high on a windy cliff within the grounds of Merrivale Estate.

Environmental Engineer Dru Porter loves her work, despite the relentless heat and red dust. The remote Matsu diamond mine in the Kimberley is the perfect place for her to hide: her insignificance in that vast and rugged landscape helps her feel invisible and safe. Surely the terror she left behind in Dubai will never find her here.... Security Specialist Connor Kirk knows from experience that beautiful women are capable of treachery. When he arrives at Matsu to investigate a diamond theft, he immediately suspects the reclusive but obviously capable Dru Porter.

Happily working on her family’s macadamia farm in the rolling hills of northern New South Wales, Dee Peters receives an enigmatic letter hinting of family secrets and the prospect of her inheriting a cattle station in the Northern Territory outback. Intrigued, Dee decides to stay on the station for six months while she attempts to make sense of the past. Ryan Carey has managed Wilderness Springs cattle station since his father died suddenly - the last thing Ryan expects is the arrival of a woman, and one who is keen to take over the running of the property.

Determined never to trust a man again, Callie Young walks out of her job as a presenter on the weather channel, determined to take the first job that will get her out of the city and away from the TikTok video, #WRONGFORECAST, that has amused the world. Meeting her new employer, the cranky and bossy owner of Kilcoy Station, reinforces her belief that no man can be trusted—but, to her dismay, that doesn't stop her developing an attraction to him! Braden is unimpressed with the glamorous woman the employment agency sends in response to his desperate ad for a nanny.

Widowed and at a crossroads in her life, Sandra Porter knows she must find the courage to find her true self. Deciding it's time to push her boundaries, she makes a booking to trek the Larapinta Walk across the centre of the remote Northern Territory. Renowned nature photographer Graysen Hughes has come to the outback seeking solace after the death of his wife. Always a loner, Graysen isn't happy when the tour guide insists on the participants walking in pairs. After a suspicious accident and the sudden disappearance of their guide, the group struggles on.