Featured book: Tracking North by Kerry McGinnis

In a place this remote, anything can happen…

Featured book this week is Tracking North by Kerry McGinnis

There’s an excerpt too.

Kelly Roberts finds refuge in the rugged and remote cattle country of northern Australia, but when tragedy strikes she is forced to find a new life for herself and her children outside of Rainsford Station.

She retreats to the family’s only asset – a freehold block of land owned jointly by her eccentric father-in-law, Quinn. In the valley at Evergreen Springs, Quinn hopes the fractured family might all come together to start over again.

Life in Queensland’s far north is wildly unpredictable, with daily challenges and the wet season, in all its wild majesty, to survive. But when twelve-year-old Rob makes the gruesome discovery of a dead body in the valley, real peril comes far too close to home.

Tracking North is a beautiful family story about life in the stunning Gulf Country, one of the world’s most unique and fascinating places.

Excerpt from Tracking North by Kerry McGinnis

Maria, deseeding cumquats at the table, had followed her glance. ‘I wonder what he’s looking for,’ she mused. She shot Kelly a glance. ‘Apart from the obvious, that is. You do realize he’s interested in you?’

‘What?’ Kelly stared then immediately dismissed the idea. ‘Don’t be silly. As if he - as if I would, Maria!’

‘I said he was interested. Not you.’

Ruffled, Kelly said flatly, ‘You’re wrong. Good grief, he knows I’m - He’s just thoughtful, that’s all.’

‘There’s no harm in it,’ the older woman said. ‘Men are men and you’re an attractive woman. Losing your husband doesn’t change that. I heard somewhere he’s divorced, so if, further down the track, you were to find that you liked him…’

‘Well, I shan’t,’ she interrupted, a flush creeping up her throat. To change the subject she said, ‘What d’you mean looking for? He just comes to ride his horses. There’s no police paddock any more in the Bend, you know.’

‘Mmm, but it can’t be exactly convenient to drive for an hour and a half to go riding. Good cover, though, if he’s looking into something dodgy.’

‘Out here?’ Kelly was incredulous. ‘Like what? You think Ted Nixon’s stealing the company’s calves?’

Maria seemed to consider the matter. ‘Not very likely, I suppose. Maybe your sergeant’s just a closet prospector. Might be he reckons there’s more silver to be had from the old field?’

‘He’s not my sergeant. And he’d need to be a geologist, wouldn’t he?’ Kelly banged the big boiler onto the table and began weighing fruit. ‘Are you ready for some lunch?’

‘I’ll just finish these.’ Maria’s eyes twinkled suddenly. ‘All right, I didn’t mean to annoy you. Still, it could be people smuggling, I suppose. The Gulf’s isolated enough to be an ideal landfall for boats, don’t you think?’

Kelly laughed at the absurdity of the idea. ‘They’d have a long walk from the coast! Besides, that’s the navy’s job, isn’t it? What about toasted sandwiches for a change? Might as well use up as many tomatoes as we can. You’ll have to take a box back with you. And as much of the jam and the chutney as you want - seeing you did all the work.’

‘I’ve enjoyed it,’ Maria said, adding quietly. ‘It’s going to be one of the harder things having no one to cook for. To which end I’ve been thinking about next year. What would you say Kelly, to sending Twice to me for the school term? You know I’d love to have him and he’d be well cared for; he’d get his schooling, you could stay here and help run the business, and he’d be home every holiday - even for long weekends, if you wished. It’s only a five hour run into Harditch.’

Kelly opened her mouth, shut it again, then said feebly, ‘Quinn’s been talking to you.’

The older woman drained the juice from the board and carried it to the sink. ‘He hasn’t said a word. It’s entirely my idea and as long as you’re happy to trust Twice to me, I think it’s the ideal solution. I know you don’t want to leave and from the little I’ve seen I think it would be a mistake to do so. In a business sense, I mean. Given a season or two to expand, this place’ll be a gold mine - but I doubt Quinn could do it alone. Certainly not as fast as if you were here too.’

‘It’s got potential,’ Kelly agreed, ‘but drawbacks too, namely summer. Another few weeks and there’ll be nobody but the locals left until next Easter, and that’s if the Wet’s a light one. That’s months without income.’

And without outlay, don’t forget. In town you’d be paying for rent, power, phone…whether you had a job or not.’ She rinsed and wiped her hands, and turned, back to the light, a compact figure in comfortable calf-length pants and faded overblouse. ‘Think about it, Kelly. You and the kids have a home here - and a living, if you want it. It needs to grow and right now it could, but in another six or eight years when the kids are through school, it’ll be too late. Quinn’ll be past the hard yakka, for one thing, and I daresay by then there’ll be others who’ll have grabbed the opportunity to cater for campers.’

‘It still leaves the slack seson,’ Kelly said, but a tiny voice in her head argued that she had the insurance money and their savings which, though they mightn’t amount to much, would see them comfortably through a couple of summers.

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Tracking North is available in eBook and paperback from good retailers.
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Read more about Kerry and her books on MEET KERRY McGINNIS

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2 thoughts on “Featured book: Tracking North by Kerry McGinnis

  1. Sounds like a very warm hearted story. I’m sure to read it. Thanks for sharing an excerpt. Would love to read about Kelly and where life will take her and what is in store for her.

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