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Sisters of the Southern Cross

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What to expect

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, Sister Claire is charged with setting up a Catholic school for the education of the gold-rush families. But life between the tropical Australian rainforest and the 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.

Critics Review

“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
Author Jean Grainger
Narrator Siobhan Waring
Duration 7 hours and 56 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9798200712311
Format Audiobook
Genre Fiction: general and literary, Historical fiction, Religious and spiritual fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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