The Abduction of Emily Byrne

On reading THE ABDUCTION OF EMILY BYRNE by prize-winning writer, CHRISTINE POWER, LEIGH RUSSELL (author of the popular DI Geraldine Steel Series), commented: "A very well-written novel." "...has a terrific cast of characters." "Excellent scene setting ... so evocative of those times." Oblivious to wild brambles tearing at her skin, a young woman staggers down the mountainside. In the dark, she searches desperately for the canoe into which, blindfolded, she was brought to this remote hideaway in the wilderness. Emily Byrne's ordeals begin in 1858 when the tiny settlements of New Caledonia are invaded. Deluded by San Franciscan newspaper reports of gold nuggets 'plucked from the Fraser River by hand, ' tens of thousands arrive in Fort Victoria. One of them is a widow in black, Mrs Angelica Thomas. Beautiful and mysterious, she is wanted and hunted in several states of America, for murder. Emily, unhappy and angry with her parents, has decided to run away from home. She has eyes only for the Royal Engineer, Jamie Ryder, whose assurances of love have led her to believe that he will marry and protect her. Meanwhile, she spurns the attentions of the half-breed, Red. Determined to follow the lieutenant up the mighty Fraser River, she is drawn closer and closer to slavery in a den of depravity.