Showing results by author "Di McDonald" in All Categories

When Brianna Donahue was three years old, her mother mysteriously disappeared while farming in Merriwell Bay, Western Australia. Now she works the same land while almost single-handedly raising her two children, and when her son goes missing she is forced to face the fact her marriage has huge cracks in it. Meanwhile, over 2,000 kilometres away in South Australia, Detective Dave Burrows sets off on an investigation that will impact Brianna’s world and test her relationships with those she loves most.

Since inheriting Nambina, the property that's been in her family for generations, Laura Murphy has worked wonders. Rather than just focus on farming she has set up a successful school teaching women the basics of managing a property—from fencing and mustering to handling the financial side of the business. But the notoriously self-reliant Laura is lonely and still scarred by a tragedy from her past. She's also grappling with the hostility of her nearest neighbor and former best friend, Meghan Hunter. The fact that Laura's ex-boyfriend Josh is Meghan's brother only makes things worse.

Detective Dave Burrows has longed for the top job in the Stock Squad but never thought he'd be acting in that role while his partner and best mate, Detective Bob Holden, is treated for melanoma. Bob is keen to get back on the road and Dave can't wait to go bush either, expecting the trip will be much the same as usual. But the trip doesn't play out that way. Multiple bomb blasts in the small country town of Kallygarn send shock waves through the state of WA, and Dave and Bob are once again drawn into the underworld of crime.

When Sassi Stapleton receives a middle-of-the-night phone call to tell her that her beloved grandmother is unwell, she quickly puts her job on hold, packs her ute and sets off on the long drive home, knowing her grandfather will need her. Less than an hour away from Sassi's hometown, Barker, she swerves to miss a roo and her car rolls down an embankment. By the time Sassi is found, her grandmother has already passed away.

After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she's assigned to investigate the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him.

Armed with an honours degree in Agribusiness, Amanda Greenfield dreams of employing all the skills she's learnt at college to help her father turn the family farm from a debt-ridden, run-down basket case into a thriving enterprise. Then tragedy strikes with the death of Amanda's mother in a car accident. Wracked by grief and guilt, and wearied by the long struggle to keep Kyleena a going concern, Amanda's father argues that they should sell up and get on with their lives away from the vagaries of drought and fluctuating stock and crop yields.

When newly badged Detective Dave Burrows arrives in the West Australian goldsfield town of Barrabine - a town where prospectors live by their own tough rules - it's exactly where he wants to be. But Melinda, his wife of two weeks, is devastated at leaving behind her family, friends and career. As Dave investigates reports of mysterious late-night trespassing, a missing person, and guns being drawn on strangers, he must navigate his way in a town where prospectors live by their own rules and find a way to keep his marriage from falling apart.

Lauren Ramsey is so concerned about the welfare of a boy in her kindy class, she doesn't realise her own daughter, Skye, needs help. At 14 Skye finds the only person who will listen to her problems is Tamara Thompson, the manager of her favourite clothes shop. Tamara knows what it's like to be a troubled teen, and despite her successful career and loving partner, her sense of worthlessness still threatens to overwhelm her.... Sometimes you have to resolve the past before you can face the future.

Emma Cameron, a recently divorced farmer and a local in Barker, runs Deception Creek, the farm that three generations of her family have owned before her. Every day, Emma pushes herself hard on the land, hoping to make 10-year-old memories of a terrible car accident disappear. And now, there are more recent nightmares of an ex-husband who refuses to understand how much the farm means to Emma. When Joel Hammond is released from jail and heads home to Barker, Detective Dave Burrows and his officer, Senior Sergeant Jack Higgins, are on high alert.

A powerful technology for producing change.When we first encountered NLP more than a dozen years ago, we realized it represented a paradigm shift - a completely new way of thinking that makes heightened achievement levels and personal transformation possible.Here's the great reality about NLP: If one person can do something, anyone else can learn how to do it! Now, human excellence can be systematically studied, then reproduced.

In a compelling narrative that introduces historical and contemporary research on self-directed education, Unschooled also spotlights how a diverse group of individuals and organizations are evolving an old schooling model of education. These innovators challenge the myth that children need to be taught in order to learn.

With the sickening realisation that his cover has been blown, Detective Dave Burrows knows his family is in serious danger from the vicious stock thieves and murderers, Bulldust and his brother, Scotty. Devastating news brings Dave back to Barrabine, where circumstances force him to question his determination to stay in the police force. How could he live with himself if anything happened to Mel and the kids?

Hallie, a young and successful fashion blogger, recently married to a station owner, is having trouble adjusting to the flies, dust, snakes and isolation in the Flinders Ranges. Left alone with her baby while her husband, Alex is often out on long bore runs during the day, she also has to contend with her father-in-law, Rod, who insists on making himself at home in their house. Alex is out on a bore run, and as Hallie and their daughter, Ruby, watch him in real time on the camera from the homestead, Alex suddenly disappears from view. He is found later, dead at the bottom of a windmill.

Anna and Matt Butler were childhood sweethearts with a dream of owning their own land, a dream they achieved through hard work and determination. But as the seasons conspire against them and Matt is involved in a terrible accident, the couple face financial ruin and the loss of their farm. As they fight for everything they hold dear, they suddenly find themselves caught up in events much bigger and more dangerous than they could ever have imagined.

Flushed with triumph on the evening of the best rodeo in the town's history, Amelia is driving the bags of cash into town when she becomes the victim of a terrifying smash and grab. Injured and distraught after her ordeal, Amelia must convince a skeptical detective that her account of what happened does add up and that he must help her track down the real culprits

After the death of her husband, Adam, in an horrific plane crash, Gemma Sinclair defies community expectations—and Adam's dying words—by deciding to hang on to Billbinya, the 10,000-hectare station he bequeathed to her. As if Gemma's grief and the job of looking after Billbinya aren't enough, a wave of innuendo soon sweeps the community that Adam's plane crash was no accident. Police officers confirm the rumour when they visit Gemma and tell her Adam's death was almost certainly related to his involvement in a cattle and sheep duffing ring.

Mia, a newly graduated constable, on her first post is assigned to Broad River, a small country town. And as certain as she is about her ability to do the job, on day one she's already in conflict with colleagues who believe that women shouldn't be coppers. It takes the shine off coming home, where her grandmother, Clara, is in the early stages of dementia.

There's this weird gap in life that's fuelled by cheap tacos and even cheaper tequila - also known as our 20s. It's a specific limbo of being suspended between being a teenager and a 'Proper Adult' and though it's wildly confusing, often lonely, sometimes embarrassing and frequently daunting, there's also a whole lot of magic to be found in the chaos. It's a time when we're finding our own voices, cementing our relationships and starting to fulfil our big ambitions (or simply just working out what they are).

When Ashleigh decides to flee her controlling husband, Dominic, she knows he'll hunt her down. The only way to escape is to disappear and reinvent herself. Moving to the tiny rural town of Blinman, one day she visits a ruined homestead in the area and becomes fascinated by the people who lived there during the 19th century. But just as she begins to unlock the secrets of her own past, Dominic arrives in town, determined to punish her....

Fiona is devastated when her husband Charlie commits suicide after the accidental shooting of his friend. Though Fiona decides to keep farming their successful property, rumours that she intends to sell keep circulating. When Detective Burrows arrives to sign off on the investigation into Eddie's death, his suspicions are aroused by some strange anomalies at the scene. As Dave becomes increasingly convinced that something sinister is going on, Fiona finds herself dealing with disasters at the farm.