Country Girl City Girl

'I'm sitting down to write the opening lines of this book a year to the day since my mum died. She is constantly in my thoughts, not just because I miss her terribly, but because she was the inspiration for this collection of stories about women who have come from very different places to make a new life in rural Australia.' City Girl, Country Girl brings together the stories of women who have left lives in the city or another country to build a new future in places where knowing how to milk a cow or drive a tractor stand them in far better stead than an ability to negotiate rush-hour traffic or find a good cappuccino. It ranges in scope from the classic outback story of Sarah Durack in the late 1800s, to the author's own mother's experiences of swapping wartime Melbourne for a dairy farm on the Limestone Coast, to the present day. City Girl, Country Girl is a compelling and fascinating account of these women's journeys as they struggle through personal tragedy, hardship and self-doubt with grace, humour, perseverance and more than a little hard work.

Phoebe Sharp has long red braids. She wears old beat-up sneakers and clothes from Goodwill. She lives with her father and brother on a small farm in Maine, where she reads fairy tales to her goats and snaps pictures with her Instamatic camera. Phoebe doesn t have a single friend, never mind a boyfriend that is, not until she meets Melita. Melita arrives at the Sharps farm in a see-through T-shirt and strappy platform sandals that show off her drawn-on tattoo. With her caramel-colored skin, stylish clothes, and urban attitude, Melita seems as different from Phoebe as two teenage girls could be. Through the summer, the girls grow to know each other. As their friendship develops, confusing feelings also begin to emerge. Could their friendship be deepening into something more?"

"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."--National Public Radio When Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation. Starting with O'Brien's birth in a grand but deteriorating house in Ireland, her story moves through convent school to elopement, divorce, single-motherhood, the wild parties of the '60s in London, and encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars, and literary titans. There is love and unrequited love, and the glamour of trips to America as a celebrated writer and the guest of Jackie Onassis and Hillary Clinton. Country Girl is a rich and heady accounting of the events, people, emotions, and landscape that have imprinted upon and enhanced one lifetime.

When thirteen-year-old Melita, the sophisticated daughter of a New York actress, comes to visit Phoebe, who has been raised by her father on a farm in Maine, Phoebe discovers she has confusing feelings about their developing friendship.

A tragic accident brought them together. Will devotion be the glue that mends their broken hearts? Eighteen-year-old Harper's perfectly planned city life changed in one devastating instant. While she prepared for college, her parents died in a horrific car crash, leaving her and her younger siblings to a distant family friend in the New Zealand countryside. And when she sees their assigned guardian's backwoods house, the only redeeming feature is the kind boy with the charming eyes. Laid-back Tane is struggling to figure out his unfortunate situation. Already angry and confused over his mother's betrayal, the arrival of five orphaned teens throws his shattered world into further chaos. And though he does his best to support them in their grief, he longs to help lovely Harper let go of her pain. As she struggles to bear the responsibility for her troubled siblings, Harper finds unexpected courage in Tane's steady hand. But he wrestles to keep his emotions in check as his need for her grows stronger with each passing day. Can Harper and Tane forge a new home on the farm and heal their shattered lives with love? City Girl vs. Country Boy is the first book in the Forever Love sweet YA contemporary romance series. If you like powerful attractions, emotional twists and turns, and heart-wrenching family drama, then you'll adore Jordan Ford's touching novel. Buy City Girl vs. Country Boy to find strength in friendship today!Please note: This is an ongoing story, the romance continues into Book 2 (Broken Girl vs. Fix-It Boy) releasing in October, 2019.

Bestselling Australian author Cathryn Hein returns with a moving and uplifting rural romance about facing hard truths and moving on in pursuit of life. Can this love story find a new beginning? After landing a major cookbook deal, star food blogger Tash Ranger swaps city life for the family farm. But Tash's homecoming is bittersweet, for now she can no longer avoid seeing her best friend Maddy, who was severely injured in a riding accident. No one knows that Maddy and Tash had a deep falling out and with every visit Tash must pretend to be the friend everyone believes her to be. Patrick Lawson, Maddy's fiancé, battles despair and hope daily as Maddy lies imprisoned in her body. When Tash returns to Castlereagh Road with her joy and boundless appetite for life, he realises finally what his loved ones have been trying to tell him for months – that Maddy wouldn't want him to throw his life away. It's time to move on. But letting go is no easy feat. Can these two friends step out of the shadow of Maddy's tragic life and accept love, or is the past forever destined to dictate their future?

“The idea is inspired and the treatment piercingly beautiful . . . Two formidable artists have shown respect for the integrity of each other’s work here and the result is magnificent.” —Independent “Bob Dylan’s back catalogue is used to glorious effect in Conor McPherson’s astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering . . . It is the constant dialogue between the drama and the songs that makes this show exceptional.” —Guardian “Beguiling and soulful and quietly, exquisitely, heartbreaking. A very special piece of theatre.” —Evening Standard “A populous, otherworldly play that combines the hard grit of the Great Depression with something numinous and mysterious.” —Telegraph Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge. Lost and lonely people huddle together in the local guesthouse. The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind, and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for. So when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback turn up in the middle of the night, things spiral beyond the point of no return . . . In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at the Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by the author. Conor McPherson is an award-winning Irish playwright. His best-known works include The Weir (Royal Court; winner of the 1999 Olivier Award for Best New Play), Dublin Carol (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Seafarer (National Theatre). Bob Dylan, born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941, is one of the most important songwriters of our time. Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. He released his thirty-ninth studio album, Triplicate, in April 2017, and continues to tour worldwide.