D E Brand

The Weif D E Brand

The Weif tells the story of Lizzie Darling, a young Irish lass banished from her family and homeland at the age of fifteen for a violent act. Surviving the long voyage to Van Diemens Land with the help of Bella, a loud and likeable natural leader, she finds her feet in Hobart Town with the genial Fletcher family. Working as a nurserymaid, she befriends the family tutor, Percy, and he agrees to teach her her letters. But Lizzie is to learn that nothing lasts forever. En route to Adelaide to take up a teaching post, she is shipwrecked off Robe in South Australia. Washed ashore, she discovers that her rescuer is not as he seems and she must develop resilience and demonstrate great fortitude to escape. Forging a new life on the Victorian goldfields, she opens her own school and becomes a respected teacher, believing she has finally left her past behind her. However her wish for a peaceful life is shattered when she finds she must once again resort to violence in order to survive.