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eBook Category: Historical Fiction/Romance
eBook Description: Liberty and Opportunity is the heartwarming saga of four forthright, liberal women, spanning five generations, three continents, two world wars, and one hundred years. You will see through your own eyes what it was like to be them and to live as they did. The story begins in 1898 with Amanda's elopement with her beloved Jack and her struggle to survive and prosper away from her domineering father. The two begin a new life in Vancouver, Canada where, over the years, she develops a publishing empire. Her daughter, Dorothy, falls in love with a soldier about to be charged for desertion from the trenches in the Western Front. Will he be court-martialed and shot? And what is the "legacy" that is runs as a thread throughout the novel?

eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, Published: SynergEbooks, 2000
Fictionwise Release Date: October 2004

1 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [405 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [353 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [356 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [2.0 MB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [399 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [302 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [364 KB] , hiebook (KML) [897 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [524 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [329 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [412 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [451 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [535 KB]
Words: 120831
Reading time: 345-483 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

January in the Waikato district of New Zealand was usually hot and dry, but the 1999 summer was about to become the hottest on record as the ongoing drought scorched the rural landscape. Even the trees in the brush looked dull and lifeless with their dust-covered leaves shading the parched grass where even thistles found it hard to grow. A slim, auburn-haired woman in brief shorts, a loose pale blue blouse, and large floppy sun hat ambled out along the drive with her sandals squelching in the melting tar. At the gateway of the Blue Mist Motel, she pulled down the hinged letterbox door and reached for the day's mail that the rural delivery van had just dropped off.

Nicole Tucker sighed as she sorted through the pile of letters. There were three bills, inquiries by the look of them or perhaps cancellations, and the usual junk mail. She recognized the writing on a small parcel the letters had been held to by a large rubber band. Grandma had written again. Dear Grandma seemed to be quite lonely and enjoyed the letters she wrote on a regular basis. A parcel, though, was unusual.

Nicole grimaced, glanced around at the bush-clad hills, poked the parcel and letters in a large plastic bag she had with her, and walked back along the twisting, tree-lined drive to the motel.

For two years, her partner, Simon McDoyle, and herself had been running the Blue Mist Motel and camping ground, but attempts to build it up as a tourist center had been only mediocre. She frowned. It had been scorching weather and this tended to drive guests away rather than attract them. The waterfall, one of the main attractions in the area, was now a mere trickle and the stream so shallow visitors could jump across from rock to rock without getting their feet wet.

Of the twelve motel units, only five were in use that night. Three families had canceled bookings and no casuals had arrived where as usually the motel was full and visitors were turned away this time of the year. Also, the campsites were almost empty with only the hardiest of campers braving the scorching, dry conditions. Likewise, only three caravans and two motor homes remained plugged into power sockets and the game room had an empty, eerie look usually associated with the winter off-season.

Simon's theory that they fell between the upmarket hotels that catered to overseas tourists and the massive camping grounds and backpackers places catering for younger people was probably correct. Throughout the country, too, overseas tourist traffic was hit by a recent Asian currency crash. The busloads of Koreans who visited in 1997, the year they bought the property, were a luxury of the past. Nicole sighed again and hoped some rain would arrive soon to settle the dust and replenish the stream.

She walked into the administration block and through the office to the living quarters. Simon should be back from work soon. He'd been doing seasonal farm work for local farmers to supplement their income but all it had really done was make him tired and moody.