In the Company of Strangers

Ruby and Cat's friendship was forged on an English dockside over sixty years ago when, with other terrified children, they clung to each other and boarded a ship bound for Australia. It was a friendship that was supposed to last a lifetime but when news of Cat's death in Margaret River reaches Ruby in London, it comes after a painful estrangement. Declan has also drifted away from Cat, but he is forced back to his aunt's lavender farm, Benson's Reach, when he learns that he and Ruby are co-beneficiaries. As he tries to get to grips with his inheritance and awaits Ruby's arrival, Declan enlists the help of his friend Alice, who is desperate for a job and a place to live. As these three very different people come together to get Benson's Reach back in business they must learn to trust each other and to deal with both the staff and the guests. And then Lesley arrives, strong-minded, abrasive and taking time out from a crisis in her marriage, determined that somehow Benson's Reach holds the answer to her troubles. Can the legacy of Benson's Reach triumph over the hurt of the past and bring this disparate group of people together? Or is Cat's duty-laden legacy simply too much for Ruby and Declan to keep alive?

About the Author

Liz Byrski was born and brought up in England and has lived in Western Australia since 1981. She is the author of a number of non-fiction books, and has worked as a staff and freelance journalist, a broadcaster with ABC Radio and an adviser to a minister in the WA Government. Liz now lectures in professional writing at Curtin University. She is also the author of Gang of Four; Food, Sex and Money; Belly Dancing for Beginners; Trip of a Lifetime, Bad Behaviour and Last Chance Café. Her essay on ageing, Getting on: Some Thoughts on Ageing, an adaptation of her PhD, is available from Momentum. She has also contributed to Pan Macmillan's anthology, about women's friendships, Just Between Us.