Paula J. Beavan — Rebel Spirits Author Talk at Muswellbrook Library

Join Paula J. Beavan when she returns to the Muswellbrook Library to share her latest book Rebel Spirits, an Australian historical novel with elements of mystery and romance.

Paula has been an avid reader since childhood, growing up on a small property in the Hunter Valley, where she rode horses, mustered cattle, and listened to the stories of local farriers, cattlemen, and farmers. A personal discovery of family connections to early settlers and a transported convict sparked a deep curiosity about Australia's past, inspiring her to write stories that bring to life the struggles and triumphs of Australia's colonial era.

Rebel Spirits follows Irish immigrant Ellen Maguire as she fights to hold her family together while their roadside inn, The Harp and Hound, slides toward ruin. With the railway bypassing their village and her father lost in grief, Ellen turns to an illicit solution, distilling poteen from her grandmother's old remedy book, never imagining where the venture will take her. When injured Englishman Jack Bell stumbles into her life searching for his missing niece, Ellen offers him shelter, unaware that his mission is entwined with her own growing danger.

Copies of Rebel Spirits are available to purchase at the event.