Hugo Thurston is on a long journey with his grandmother, aboard the Ghan - the cross-outback train. They share a lunch table with sisters Amy and Rachel. Hugo dreads being recognised as a wealthy bachelor who's preferred the army to business for twenty years. However his grandmother Maudie recognises Amy instead, as a classical ballerina who has recently retired on health grounds. Amy is secretly sneaking pieces of steak into her bag for her elderly fox terrier which has been smuggled on board. When another passenger hears the dog bark that night and reports him, Amy rushes him out of her tourist-class cabin and down to Hugo's private carriage, hoping that the pleasant man will help to hide the dog from the guard. Fortunately he does, but another passenger snaps a photo of Hugo with Amy in her silk pyjamas and sends it to the media.

Rachel, a geologist, is recovering from a serious car accident and the sisters are taking up teaching posts in Darwin. On the journey there is a stop to visit Uluru, or Ayers Rock, and Maudie offers the girls hospitality at a family house instead of bunk beds in a hostel. Rachel admits that this would be easier for her and sends Amy and Hugo out with instructions to collect specific rock samples amid the Olga mountains. Finding a young wallaby trapped down a crevice, the pair combine their separate skills to rescue the joey. If life could always be so straightforward, they could fall for each other - but Hugo has to take up the reins of the family firm, and believes that it would be wrong to drag Amy into the hedonistic, destructive lifestyle of his parents. The media are already onto them, and their privacy is short-lived.

HER OUTBACK RESCUER is a tale of contrasts in today's Australia, where descendants of the native people meet those who exploit the land's wealth, and people who are strong support those who are vulnerable. The romance compliments the issues and both sides come out of the story stronger for what they have learnt. This is a likeable and interesting tale by Marion Lennox in the setting of her home.

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