Featured book this week is Turtle Reef by Jennifer Scoullar
There’s an extract too!
Unlucky-in-love zoologist Zoe King has given up on men. Moving from Sydney to take up an exciting new research role in the small sugar town of Kiawa is a welcome fresh start. She is immediately charmed by the region’s beauty – by its rivers and rainforests. By its vast cane fields, sweeping from the foothills down to the rocky coral coast. And by its people – its farmers and fishermen, unhurried and down to earth, proud of their traditions.
Her work at the Reef Centre provides all the passion she needs and Zoe finds a friend in Bridget, the centre’s director. The last thing she wants is to fall for her boss’s boyfriend, cane king Quinn Cooper, so she refuses to acknowledge the attraction between them – even to herself. But things aren’t quite adding up at the Reef Centre and when animals on the reef begin to sicken and die, Zoe’s personal and professional worlds collide. She faces a terrible choice. Will protecting the reef mean betraying the man she loves?
Extract from Turtle Reef by Jennifer Scoullar
‘Well?’ said Bridget. ‘What do you think of our star attractions?’
‘They’re beautiful,’ said Zoe. ‘Absolutely beautiful.’
Six dolphins cruised around the natural saltwater lagoon that formed part of the Kiawa Reef Centre. The three smallest ones were particularly energetic, leaping from the turquoise pool in graceful arcs. Those must be the spinners, Stenella longirostris, literally meaning long-beaks. One of them shot forwards and approached Zoe. She hadn’t seen specimens of this species before. They lacked the fixed smile of their bottlenose cousins, and were around half their size. Far more dainty, with slender beaks – rostrums – and soft brown eyes. Almost human eyes.
‘This is Baby.’ Bridget sat down at the edge of the water. The sleek little dolphin rolled upside down and presented his pale pink tummy to be scratched. Bridget obliged, then nodded to Zoe. ‘Come and say hello.’
Zoe knelt down and tentatively stretched out her hand, enchanted by this strange and exotic creature inviting her to play. But she was also a little scared. Truth was, Zoe had never had much to do with real live animals. She’d grown up in a two-bedroom flat in Bankstown, sharing a room with her older sister Stacey. Her mum worked as a cleaner and her dad drove Greyhound coaches between capital cities. The family seldom had enough room, time or disposable income for pets.
When Zoe was little it had been fun sharing with Stacey. She’d adored her big sister, who told stories about princesses being rescued by white knights, and always let Zoe crawl into bed with her when bad dreams came knocking. Everything changed though, when Stacey hit her teenage years. She no longer had time for her kid sister. With Mum working nights and Dad away so much, they weren’t allowed to have friends around very often. Zoe abided by the rules, even though it put her on the outer at school. But Stacey began bringing boys home behind their parents’ backs. She’d bribe Zoe with lollies or money to get lost. If that didn’t work, she’d threaten harm to Zoe’s most precious possessions. ‘If you don’t give me and Jayden some privacy, I’ll dump those stupid fish books of yours in the toilet. And don’t you dare tell Mum either.’ How Zoe had hated it. Banished from her own room, trapped in the cramped flat, unable to block out the mysterious giggles and thumps coming through the thin walls, no matter how loud she turned up the television.
When Stacey was seventeen she moved in with her boyfriend and Zoe suddenly had some space to herself. What a luxury. She landed an after-school job at Bankstown public library and soon had enough money saved to set up a small aquarium in her room. She loved her fish, but it wasn’t quite the same as having a dog or a cat. You couldn’t form a relationship with a guppy, and she was timid when it came to connecting with more challenging animals. Yet here was Baby, staring at her with those curious, intelligent eyes, demanding just such a connection.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Bridget. ‘You won’t scare him.’
Zoe took a deep breath. Good. Bridget didn’t realise that she was the one who was afraid. But then, who’d expect her to be afraid of dolphins? They were so universally loved. Like so many little girls, Zoe’s side of the bedroom had overflowed with dolphin stickers and posters, closely followed by those of horses and unicorns. Dolphins, horses and unicorns – symbols of magic, power and fantasy in the life of a lonely child. She drew their pictures all over her school books and wrote sentimental stories and poems about them.
But she’d since discovered that horses could be scary close-up, having fallen off the only time she’d ever ridden one and broken her collarbone. Likewise she’d discovered that dolphins weren’t always the amiable characters of fairy-tale fame, spending their days frolicking happily in the waves and saving people from drowning. They were effective and cunning predators, capable of real aggression, and had been known to bite swimmers when provoked or frightened. ‘Do not be taken in by dolphins and their winning smiles,’ her first lecturer had warned. Then he told the story of the Brazilian dolphin Tião, who sent twenty-eight people to hospital before killing a swimmer.
Turtle Reef is available in eBook and paperback from good retailers.
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