AustLit

'Trapped in London for two years as governess and servant under her nasty stepmother, petite and gentle 19-year-old Cecilia (Tommy) Rainham longs for the day the War will finish and her brother Bob will be home from the Royal Air Force to rescue her.  Fortune smiles on them and a much-loved aunt’s inheritance allows them to set sail for Australia, narrowly escaping the clutches of the stepmother.   Coincidentally, on the same troopship, the Linton family are making their return after five years away.

'Strong bonds of friendship form, and Billabong becomes their haven whilst they learn the ropes of station management and plan their future home.  All seems rosy until the skies blacken and a bushfire all but destroys their new life.  Undaunted, they pick up the pieces, and with Billabong behind them and help from willing hands, begin all over again.' (Publication summary)

'Billabong hosts a wedding in fine style.  Wally drives Norah away for their honeymoon exploring, camping, fishing and hunting and going into little-known bush areas.  Norah discovers Li Ning, a Chinese gentleman dying in a cave.  He had been chased by three thieves trying to steal his bag of diamonds and a black opal that he wants to send to his son in China with his 12 year-old grandson, Li Chang.

'A map of the treasure’s location in the hills is with a trusted friend in Melbourne.  Li Chang is hopefully there as well.  Li Ning’s last wish is that Norah and Wally will find the gems and help Li Chang to return to his homeland before the thieves get in first.  Jim is called to Melbourne to assist.  They visit the Chinese friend, but the boy is not there.  With the map in hand, they travel back by train.  But the map is stolen from Wally’s locked bag when it is left unattended for a short break.  Undaunted, they press on having already memorised a great deal of the map.  Li Chang has been captured and tortured by two of the thieves.  He escapes narrowly and runs into the Linton party, who protect him.  Norah stays behind to nurse the child back to strength whilst the boys go off in search for the treasure.  The map in their minds leads them to the exact spot, but too late.  They chase the thief, who manages to hide the bag from them during the chase – observed by Li Chang, who retrieves it.  At last Li Ning’s wishes are fulfilled.'  (Publication summary)

'Returning from visiting Tommy,  Norah rescues Mrs Reilly, an Irish immigrant mother and her daughter Mary-Kate from their runaway horse and sulky.  At Billabong, her father relives old memories of the wilder side of his youth.  Left alone at home, Tommy is frightened by an intruder.  The man escapes when Jim comes on the scene.  The girls visit the Reillys, finding Mrs Reilly desperately ill so both families help out where they can.  Mary-Kate becomes a willing pupil at Billabong learning everything from cooking and cleaning to dispatching snakes.  There is a dance at night and a mustering of cattle by day where Norah is terrorised by a rogue bull until Wally charges in to save her — and surprises himself.

'The escaped criminal is found, but they don’t have the heart to turn him in.  Wally is recalled to Queensland to deal with his brother’s property.  Routing devious cattle-stealing station hands, he finds himself in trouble and very nearly killed.  Rescue comes out of the blue.  Jim is summoned to his side and Norah will not be left behind.  They hope Wally will live.'  (Publication summary)

'Brenda Paling lived on the shores of Middle Harbour, where she became so interested in ships and adventures at sea that most of her leisure was spent in a game of make-believe, with herself as chief of an imaginary ship, a revolver at her hip, sailing the Pacific or the Spanish Main. Brenda goes to the University, which gives an opportunity to introduce the hilarious proceedings at a Commem. Two young men are introduced, in whom she takes a considerable interest. One of them seems likely to give her the opportunity for sailing out of the Heads to seek the adventures that she had so long desired. She finds, however, that she is really in love with the other one, who, after a very irregular beginning, settles down steadily in a business career and marries Brenda, while Brenda's brother, who had never cared for adventure at all, sets out for the Antarctic.'

Source: 'The Ship that Never Set Sail', Sydney Mail, 21 December 1921, p.13.

From the first instalment of the serialisation of the novel in THE SYDNEY MAIL, 30 July 1919:

"Our new serial, "Captain Jim," is by Mary Grant Bruce, whose reputation as a writer has been a steadily growing influence in Anglo-Australian literary circles for some years past. She achieved great success with children's stories, and we can name no Australian writer who has shown more sympathy with, and understanding of, the child mind. In her more mature work, of which "Captain Jim" is the latest example, Mrs. Bruce re-impresses the reader with her innate sense of literary style. Her appeal to the adult reader is a summons to the best that is in human nature, and yet there is no tawdry sentiment. Our serial is as breezy as the hills of Gippsland, where the talented authoress spent her early days. Quite recently she returned from England. "Captain Jim" is not a war story, although it is of the war period and gives glimpses of khaki. The major characters are Norah Linton, a big-hearted, fearless, Australian girl; David Linton, her father, an Australian sheep-farmer, from whom his family gels its vein of optimism and good humour; Captain Jim Linton, Norah's soldier brother, who has some exciting adventures; and Wally Meadows, Jim's soldier chum—a machine-gunner of typical Australian build and spirits. Of hardly less importance are Miss de Lisle, an English cook, and Allenby, an English disabled ex-sergeant, who proves a trump at the right time. The story rings with truth and scintillates with humour."

'A somewhat shiftless and discontented girl becomes an active recruiting agent, and uses her influence in a way which shows what a good many others might do if they went the right way to work. In describing how this is done, the writer tells us a capital story, or, at all events, part of one, for we all lay down the book with the hope that we have not heard the last of the heroine or of the man she has had most influence of all on. Books like this are, of course, sought after and read eagerly just now when the war is in everyone's mind, and it is, therefore, all the more to be thankful for that they are healthy in tone, and must do good to the cause we all have at heart.'

Source:

'War's Heart Throbs' [review], The World's News, 6 November 1915, p.29. (Via Trove Australia.)

Story of the lovely Dora Swayle, her admirer Hugh MacNeil and their lives and adventures in the Victorian bush near Melbourne. Dora marries Robert Patrick, but he goes missing and she she relies on the assistance of the faithful Hugh. Robert is found after eighteen months away, but confusion ensues as Dora's friend, Grace Moffat, is convinced her lover, Ronald Patrick, has been unfaithful due to the discovery of an initialled handkerchief. When she discovers that Ronald has a brother with the same initials, she realises her mistake and they are reunited. Robert is of a sickly nature however, and later dies, leaving Dora and her child Grace alone. Hugh, however, has remained faithful to his love for Dora, and they eventually marry.

The menace and beauty of the Australian landscape is described in great detail.

Coming-of-age story focused on three sisters.

'With a night in the city behind them, a pantomime and distributing gifts at the Children’s Hospital, Norah returns to Billabong for the holidays with a school friend after a whole year away at bothersome boarding school.  The family settles back in to their station life, cattle mustering, dealing with a snake bite, a maliciously lit bushfire that destroys their house, rescuing a stolen child and the shenanigans of Jim and Wally.'  (Publication summary)