In 1920, seventeen-year-old Maddie Bright is thrilled to take a job as a serving girl on the royal tour of Australia by Edward, Prince of Wales. She makes friends with Helen Burns, the prince's vivacious press secretary, and Rupert Waters, his most loyal man, and is in awe of Edward himself, the boy prince.
For Maddie, who longs to be a journalist like Helen, what starts as a desire to help her family after the devastation of war becomes a chance to work on something that matters. When the unthinkable happens, it is swift and life changing.
Decades later, Maddie Bright is living in a ramshackle house in Paddington, Brisbane. She has Ed, her devoted neighbour, to talk to, the television news to shout at, and door-knocker religions to join. But when London journalist Victoria Byrd gets the sniff of a story that might lead to the true identity of a famously reclusive writer, Maddie's version of her own story may change.
1920, 1981 and 1997: the strands twist across the seas and over two continents, to build a compelling story of love and fame, motherhood and friendship. Set at key moments in the lives of two of the most loved and hated figures of the twentieth century, in Maddie Bright, a reader will find a friend, and by novel's close, that friend's true and moving story.
