Stone Country

Stone Country is Nicole Alexander's ninth bestseller, offering a sweeping rural historical narrative set in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

In South Australia, 1919, Ross Grant has always been seen as the black sheep in his affluent Scottish family. An explorer by nature, he fantasises about life at Waybell, a remote cattle station located in Australia's last frontier, the Northern Territory.

The story takes a turn when Ross's brother Alastair is branded a deserter after disappearing during the Great War. To mend the Grants' damaged reputation, Ross is pressured into marrying Darcey Thomas, a woman he has never met.

Disgusted by his family's manipulations, Ross abandons his unwanted bride just hours after their wedding ceremony and heads to Waybell, with no intention of coming back. He aspires to create his own empire in the far north.

What Ross does not anticipate is Darcey's resolve to be more than a wife in name only. Nor does he expect to meet Maria, a young part-Chinese woman who captures his heart. Furthermore, the beautiful yet brutal land both enchants and challenges him in unexpected ways.

From nineteenth-century Adelaide and the red dirt of mid-north South Australia to the cattle stations and buffalo plains of the far north, Ross's journey is driven by anger and desire, adventure and determination, as he ventures into the heart of stone country and beyond.