Two families. One, the Cox family, is the local blueblood squattocracy, torn apart by the tragic death of golden boy teenage son Stephen, twenty years earlier. The other, the Doyles, local "white trash" mocked by the town, are also devastated by the untimely death of Stephen Cox, but for very different reasons. As Cowra gears up for the excitement of the annual Miss Showgirl competition, old enmities and past secrets resurface, and threaten to blow the town apart.
Lucy Lehmann's eye for detail - of description, of dialogue, of psychology - is ruthless and unerring, but she is also a sympathetic chronicler of the human spirit. She has written a first novel of great warmth, originality and promise.
