NEW RELEASE
Feral Bells - Peta-Jo (2012)
Lydia escapes country Townsville for the bright lights of Brisbane, successfully distancing herself from the place and its people, and most importantly, her single parent mother. She's doing well until she wakes up in the bed of a man named "Scrubs" and can't remember getting there. That event is the first of a downward spiral; she's in trouble at work and isn't attracting the right attention of her interior design boss. She even loses her independence when little sister Elsie moves in pregnant and alone. And then there's Chris, Scrubs' roommate, whom she met trying to sneak quietly out of Scrubs' bedroom. He keeps unexpectedly popping up and when he's the best man at her friend's wedding, they are forced closer together. She likes him but he lives on a farm in northern Queensland, a place Lydia is determined not to return to. Will she choose career and independence over love and give up the life she has strived to make for herself in the city to return to the country? This is a fun story that touches on the serious issues. (LF)
Peta-Jo's debut novel Feral Bells uncovers the trials faced by every young woman trying to make something of herself - and leaving home to do it. The summary says: "Lydia Vermont's life isn't all that complicated. Work hard, have a nice apartment and don't end up back in Townsville - rules that have served her well. That is until her sister, newly wed, pregnant and on the fast track to divorce, moves in. Now family obligations, interfering friends and a disastrous one-night stand have Lydia in a spin. Is this the life she really wants? It's only after tragedy strikes, Lydia realises the rules no longer apply and she must come to grips with new boundaries and new possibilities."