A Fringe of Leaves

Sep 13, 2025 3:04 PM

Author:Patrick White

A Fringe of Leaves

Set in Australia in the 1840s, A FRINGE OF LEAVES combines dramatic action with a finely distilled moral vision. Returning home to England from Van Diemen's land, the Bristol Maid is shipwrecked on the Queensland coast and Mrs Roxburgh is taken prisoner by a tribe of aborigines, along with the rest of the passengers and crew. In the course of her escape, she is torn by conflicting loyalties - to her dead husband, to her rescuer, to her own and to her adoptive class.

Reviews

These books are page-turners; they offer a wonderful way to learn about history, their heroines are smart, strong and in control of their destinies and their stories will remain with you for ever...They are a celebration of women's spirit throughout history.

—— Daily Express

One of England's foremost historical novelists

—— Birmingham Mail

Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama

—— The New York Times

Far and away my favourite writer

—— Wendy Holden

If you like Philippa Gregory or Barbara Erskine, take a step back in time with Jean Plaidy

—— Woman and Home

'One of the country's most widely read novelists

—— Sunday Times

Jean Plaidy has already established herself among the foremost of current historical novelists

—— Birmingham Mail

Jean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the past with such rich complexity

—— Guardian

'A grand recounting of the second Punic War...Durham's epic is truly a big, magnificent, sprawling story complete with a sizable cast of compelling characters, intricately drawn battle scenes and fluid, graceful prose'

—— Booklist (starred review)

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