Sapphire Skies (37 page)

‘Mama, Mama,’ I said to myself, ‘keep safe. You will survive, and I will survive, until we can find each other again.’

In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia’s Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II.

White Gardenia
sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?

Rich in incident and historical detail, this is a compelling and beautifully written tale about yearning and forgiveness.

‘Depicts vividly the powerful lifelong bond between
mothers and daughters’ —
Paullina Simons

‘Captivating’ —
Daily Telegraph

‘A passionate and powerful family saga’
—
Australian Women’s Weekly

‘Nothing is wasted, Simone. The love we give never dies.’

At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provençal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseille. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream: to one day be a famous dancer and singer.

But when war threatens, Simone makes a decision that will lead to great danger — yet ultimately prove that love, just like wild lavender, can grow in the least likely of places …

Belinda Alexandra has created a tale of passion and courage that moves from the backstreets of Marseille to the grand music theatres of Paris, from the countryside of Provence to decadent pre-war Berlin and jazz-age New York.

Wild Lavender
is a feast for the senses that will live on in the imagination long after the book is closed.

‘Filled with glamour, heartbreak, drama and suspense’
—
The Age

‘Rich in detail, and the story fairly rattles along’
—
Choice magazine

A dazzling novel about two exceptional sisters, set in the Australian film world of the 1920s.

In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adéla and Klàra must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. There, Adéla becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood.

But while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away. And ultimately dreams of the silver screen must compete with the bonds of a lifetime …

Silver Wattle
confirms Belinda Alexandra as one of our foremost storytellers. Weaving fact into inspiring fiction with great flair and imagination, this is a novel as full of hope, glamour and heartbreak as the film industry itself.

‘An absorbing story of hope and despair, loyalty
and love’ —
Woman’s Day

‘Readers are kept on their toes … and it’s a
worthwhile wait’ —
Courier-Mail

‘Keeps you involved and caring … an engrossing read’
—
MX

A tale of sacrifice and reward, of beauty and horror … and of redemption.

A mysterious stranger known as ‘The Wolf’ leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child’s identity …

When Rosa turns fifteen, she must leave the nuns who have raised her to become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa — blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents — is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions.

Meanwhile, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, threatening her citizens. In the face of unimaginable hardship, will Rosa’s intelligence, intuition and her extraordinary capacity for love be enough to ensure her survival?

‘A wonderful story that had me reading until the early
hours of the morning’ —
Good Reading

‘Impeccable research into the terrible times of Mussolini’s
Italy makes this story of sacrifice and salvation
unforgettable’ —
Woman’s Day

‘You who judge me: come! Let me tell you a story …’

Paloma Batton is the granddaughter of Spanish refugees who fled Barcelona after the Civil War. A disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet, Paloma lets little get in the way of her career until she receives a mysterious pair of golden earrings. She begins exploring her Spanish heritage and becomes fascinated by ‘la Rusa’, a woman who rose from poverty to become one of the great flamenco dancers of modern times before committing suicide.

As Paloma begins to unravel the secrets of the past, she discovers more than one person who had good reason for wanting la Rusa dead, including Paloma’s own grandmother.

Golden Earrings
is a story that moves between two great cities: Barcelona in the lead-up to the Civil War and Paris in the 1970s. It is the story of two women and the extremes to which they are willing to go for love. It is a story of great passions — and great betrayals — where nothing is quite as it seems.

‘Totally enthralling’ —
Herald Sun

Belinda Alexandra has been published to wide acclaim in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Norway, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Hungary and the United States. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father and has been an intrepid traveller since her youth. Her love of other cultures is matched by her passion for her home country, Australia, where she is a volunteer carer for the New South Wales Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES). An animal lover, Belinda is also the patron of the World League for Protection of Animals (Australia).

See Belinda Alexandra on Facebook at:

facebook.com/BelindaAlexandraAuthor and at:

harpercollins.com.au/authors/50018805/
Belinda_Alexandra/index.aspx

HarperCollins
Publishers

First published in Australia in 2014

This edition published in 2014

by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

ABN 36 009 913 517

harpercollins.com.au

Copyright © Belinda Alexandra 2014

The right of Belinda Alexandra to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the
Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968
, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

‘Wait for me’ by Konstantin Simonov used with kind permission from FTM agency, Moscow. English translation by Mike Munford (www.simonov.com).

HarperCollins
Publishers

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand

A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India

77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom

2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada

10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Alexandra, Belinda.

Sapphire skies / Belinda Alexandra.

ISBN 978 0 7322 9197 6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978 1 7430 9911 7 (epub)

A823.4

Cover design by Jane Waterhouse

Cover images: Woman by George Marks/Getty Images; Soviet Cavalry Marching Through Red

Square © The Dmitri Baltermants Collection/CORBIS; background images by shutterstock.com

Author photograph by Elizabeth Allnutt