ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. Nina says of the reporter Elizabeth Parrish, “Maybe I had been angry with Elizabeth Parrish because she revealed the truth: I wasn’t an artist. I’d always known that.” Discuss what art is with your book club. Do you think that Nina’s bestselling Widow Wayland series can be classified as art?
2. After reading Nell’s diary, Nina thinks, “These were my ancestors. This was my family history. . . . Do we honor the past by projecting ourselves forward into the future? By carrying on genes and traits and family stories?” Discuss Nina’s statement. How do you honor your own family history? Share your own photos and stories with your book club.
3. Nell is fascinated with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Read it with your book club and discuss why you think the story appeals to Nell.
4. Nell’s companion is her wooden cat, Pangur Ban, whose name is taken from an Old Irish poem. Read “Pangur Ban” as a book club. What does the poem say about writing and inspiration? Discuss how it relates to Nina’s writing or your own creative process.
5. To learn more about Kimberley Freeman or Ember Island, read her blog at http://kimberleyfreeman.com.
© JUSTINE WALPOLE
KIMBERLEY FREEMAN was born in London and her family moved back to Australia when she was three years old. She grew up in Queensland, where she currently lives.
Kimberley has written for as long as she can remember and is proud to write in many genres. She is an award-winning writer in children’s, historical, and speculative fiction under her birth name, Kim Wilkins. She adopted the pen name Kimberley Freeman for her commercial women’s fiction novels, Duet, Gold Dust, Wildflower Hill, and Lighthouse Bay, to honor her maternal grandmother and to try to capture the spirit of the page-turning novels she has always loved to read. Kim has an honors degree, a masters degree, and a Ph.D. from The University of Queensland, where she is also a lecturer.
www.kimberleyfreeman.com
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
authors.simonandschuster.com/Kimberley-Freeman
Facebook.com/TouchstoneBooks
@TouchstoneBooks
Also by Kimberley Freeman
Wildflower Hill
Lighthouse Bay
We hope you enjoyed reading this Touchstone eBook.
* * *
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Touchstone and Simon & Schuster.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
Touchstone
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Kimberley Freeman
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone trade paperback edition April 2014
Originally published in 2013 by Hachette Australia
Cover Photographs: Woman © Yolande De Kort/Trevillion
Images; Background © Lisa Howarth/Trevillion Images
TOUCHSTONE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Interior design by Aline Pace
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Freeman, Kimberley, 1970–
Ember Island : a novel / Kimberley Freeman.—First Touchstone edition.
pages cm
1. Women novelists—Fiction. 2. Great-grandmothers—Fiction. 3. Diaries—Fiction. 4. Family secrets—Fiction. 5. Moreton Bay (Qld.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9619.4.F75E48 2014
823'.92—dc23
2013035415
ISBN 978-1-4767-4350-9
ISBN 978-1-4767-4353-0 (ebook)
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter One: A Summer Wedding
Chapter Two: The Broken Chimney
Chapter Three: The Deep Quiet
Chapter Four: Stories in the Walls
Chapter Five: Waiting on a Letter
Chapter Six: Lumière sur la Mer
Chapter Seven: Imagining Things
Chapter Eight: Figures in the Distance
Chapter Nine: The Sable-trimmed Coat
Chapter Ten: A New Woman
Chapter Eleven: She Is Not My Mother
Chapter Twelve: This Is the Life
Chapter Thirteen: Another Island
Chapter Fourteen: An English Garden
Chapter Fifteen: Evening Conversation
Chapter Sixteen: The Truth Fixes Everything
Chapter Seventeen: A Rescue
Chapter Eighteen: Inside the Stockade
Chapter Nineteen: A Single-Minded Man
Chapter Twenty: Fields of Fire
Chapter Twenty-One: Come Together, Fall Apart
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Boat Shed
Chapter Twenty-Three: A Letter from the Past
Chapter Twenty-Four: Back to the Island
Chapter Twenty-Five: Watching the Water
Chapter Twenty-Six: Blood and Ash
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Truth Fixes Everything
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Finding Tilly
Acknowledgments
Touchstone Reading Group Guide
Topics and Questions for Discussion
Enhance Your Book Club
About Kimberley Freeman
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimberley was born in London and her family moved back to Australia when she was three years old. She grew up in Queensland, where she currently lives.
Kimberley has written for as long as she can remember and is proud to write in many genres. She is an award-winning writer in children’s, historical, and speculative fiction under her birth name, Kim Wilkins. She adopted the pen name Kimberley Freeman for her commercial women’s fiction novels, Duet, Gold Dust, Wildflower Hill, and Lighthouse Bay, to honor her maternal grandmother and to try to capture the spirit of the page-turning novels she has always loved to read. Kim has an honors degree, a masters degree, and a Ph.D. from The University of Queensland, where she is also a lecturer.
Kimberley Freeman, Ember Island
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends