A new heartwarming novel set in 1950s Australia from bestselling author Katrina Nannestad Nettie Sweeney has a dad, three big sisters, a farm full of cows and a cat called Mittens. But it's not enough. She longs for a mother. One with a gentle touch and sparkles in her eyes. Instead, she has Aunty Edith with slappy hands, a sharp tongue and the disturbing belief that peas are proper food. When Dad marries Alice, all Nettie's dreams come true. The Sweeney home overflows with laughter, love and, in time, a baby brother. Billy. The light of Nettie's life. Then tragedy strikes. The Sweeney family crumbles. Nettie tries to make things right, but has she made everything so much worse?From multi-award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad comes a heartbreakingly beautiful and uplifting historical novel. Life and death. Weddings and floods. Coronation joy and post-war grief. Nettie Sweeney and her community experience it all. Together. With humour, kindness and love.SOME OF KATRINA NANNESTAD'S AWARDSThe Girl Who Brought Mischief - Winner of the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Children's Literature (The Patricia Wrightson Prize)We Are Wolves - Winner of the 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize (Children and Young Adult)Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief - Winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize (Children and Young Adult) and Winner of the 2022 ABA Booksellers' Choice Book of the Year Award (Children's)
