Why a Booktrail?
1953, 2025: A home. A disappearance. And a mystery that spans a century…
A Haunting at Venus Bay
What you need to know before your trail
When Cass leaves London with a fractured heart, she plans to settle in Australia, specifically in the beautiful area of Victoria coastline where she spent so many happy holidays. Yet when she arrives, her house is not quite what she’d envisaged – doing a place up is one challenge, living with things that go bump in the night is quite another.
Years earlier, Minna and her mother have escaped war torn Europe to join the fairgrounds. There, Minna meets Albert, a man clearly who wants a wife who will also be a full-time worker on the farm near Venus Bay. Albert has no interest in Minna, nor tolerance of her desire to become a writer. When he, and then Minna, both disappear, the mystery of what has happened to them stays buried, seemingly for ever…
It will take Cass, and the discovery of a hidden book, to unravel the secrets of a childhood and a marriage, and a story that will also help her live again.
Travel Guide
Venus Bay
As the author describes it, the location is a “narrow finger of land between wild ocean and shallow inlet” with “only one road in or out”, which perfectly sets up the isolated, atmospheric tension.
The author adds:
“I chose the small community of Venus Bay, Victoria, on Australia’s rugged south coast for my setting. Situated on a narrow peninsular between wild ocean on one side and a shallow inlet on the other, there is only one road in or out. The ocean side is bordered by dense coastal scrub, while the inlet is bordered by wetlands, mud flats or banksia forest. Kangaroos, wombats, and a multitude of bird life abound. Oh … and there are also snakes.”
BookTrail Boarding Pass: A Haunting at Venus Bay
Destination/Location: Victoria, Australia Author: Julie Brooks Departure: 1953, 2025
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