Queenslander

Farms collect broken things. Things awaiting resurrection.

Since getting out of juvie, Ronnie Madonna has built a tentative life in Lionheart working as a farmhand for Nev at Upsend Downs, but one thing is still missing: her daughter Rainbow.

When she realizes she has a chance to get Rainbow back, she must prove she is a responsible adult and a good mother. Her quest will take a village, and will force her to confront demons from her past. Will she follow her football dreams to Brisbane or put down roots on the land that holds a mysterious power over her and her boss?

Ten years ago, jaded former war photographer Nev Bickerman woke to a pregnant teenager smashing the family room with a cricket bat. Now, Nev is far too professional to admit she’s falling in love.

Welcome to Lionheart, aka “Line Hat,” a small town between the Outback and the rainforest healing from colonial scars, where climate change threatens both agriculture and eco-tourism. Gritty and hilarious, with emotional momentum, Queenslander is the first book in this Australian family drama series.

"A moving story about queer family, identity, and belonging set on a sheep farm in Australia, Queenslander shows how people can atone for their past mistakes and discover who they're meant to be.”

—Milo Todd, nationally bestselling author of The Lilac People

"Queenslander is a sweeping epic set in a farm in the Australian outback, vividly described, a story about family lost, found and fought hard for. At the center is the relationship between Nev, a farmer and former war photographer, and Ronnie, a younger woman with a violent past. The star of this book is the land and the landscape and includes delightful details like a house whose inhabitants adore watching sport in a living room where they also run an animal shelter for adorable Australian baby critters. This book, its characters and story, will stick with you after you've finished reading."

—Elizabeth De Veer, author of The Ocean in Winter

"This extraordinary debut from Laura Garden is so many things: a lyrical ode to Queensland and its people, an exploration of love in all its many forms, a double portrait of two women who only appear to be perfect opposites to one another, but in fact share a bond deeper than blood. Lush and transportive, tender and fierce, this is a novel that lives on well after the last page."

—Hesse Phillips, author of Lightborne