
Dust and Wonder
Kim Kelly(Author)
Jazz Monkey Publications (Publisher)
Published on 5. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
346 pages
978-1-7645674-0-4 (ISBN)
Description
As the armies of the British Empire march across the world in brutal conquest, Lieutenant Griff Whitaker resigns his commission under a burden of shame, intending to disappear - permanently. But the deafening, earth-shaking blast of the volcano Krakatoa in August 1883 changes his course, and sends a massive cloud of dust around the globe with him.
Three thousand miles southwards, Ariadne Archer - a brilliant mind trapped in Sydney's pretentious harbourside society - becomes intrigued by the wildly colourful skies, eerily vivid sunsets and haunting auras around the moon that have occurred since the volcanic eruption.
By uncanny chance, Ariadne and Griff are separately drawn to the secluded valley of the famed Jenolan Caves. Friendship blooms amid this place of peace and natural wonder. As desire ignites, Griff regains his passion for music and his violin, and begins to hope for another way of being in this world - while Ariadne's own talents and heightened perceptions might well defy the laws of science altogether.
But can love survive beyond enchantment?
'an extraordinary and beautiful book' - Karen Brooks, The Good Wife of Bath
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
562 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-7645674-0-4 (9781764567404)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kim Kelly is the author of ten novels, including the acclaimed Wild Chicory and perennial bestseller The Blue Mile. With distinctive warmth and lyrical charm, her work explores Australia, its history and people, its quirks and contradictions, from colonial invasion times to the present, and from the red-dirt roads of the outback to its glittering cities.
An editor, reviewer and literary consultant by trade, stories fill her everyday - most nights, too - and it's love that fuels her intellectual engine. In fact, she takes love so seriously she once donated a kidney to her husband to prove it, and also to save his life.
Originally from Sydney, today Kim lives on a small rural property in central New South Wales just outside the tiny gold-rush village of Millthorpe, where the ghosts are mostly friendly and her grown sons regularly come home to graze.