Only the Empty Sky

Book excerpt: 1918: Lord Howe Island, off Australias eastern coast. An American, Paul De Martinet, arrives to paint the sub tropical outposts vanishing birds. Home to an insular community, jealousy and suspicion lurk not far below the surface of what appears to be an otherwise carefree community. On expeditions into the islands mysterious and beautiful kentia palm forest he is accompanied by Margaret Sleap, a gifted local gardener. Re-animating vanished birds in paint, they find each specimen resonates with its own deeper story of loss and belonging. Together they map out the aching territory of love until one day, as tensions surface, they are the victims of a savage attack that sets in motion their own choices of survival.