Queenslander

Queenslander

by Laura Garden

Released April 21, 2026

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.

Laura Garden is the Writer’s Digest award-winning author of an American gothic historical short story about women in the Civil War, as well as various short fiction including award-winning short stories Losing Normal, a contemporary family drama, and Eighteen, a dystopian sci-fi short story. She lives in Massachusetts where she is a flower farmer specializing in dahlias, farmer’s market, farm events and farm education. She also raises Border-Leicester-Romney sheep for wool. She studied Conservation Biology in Queensland, Australia with the School for Field Studies and is writing a novel that is a love letter to the farmers and graziers of the Atherton Tablelands.