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For Bluey and Molly Turner, 1901 brings a big change: a baby on the way and the purchase of the Trafalgar Hotel in the tiny mining town of Trafalgar in the Western Australian goldfields.
They find themselves thrust into the lifestyle of a rapidly growing mining town of diverse personalities and politics amidst learning how to run a new business. Overlooking them all is the painting of Admiral Nelson, both loved and detested.
This is a heartwarming story about friendship and family, set in the turbulent times of a fast developing gold mining industry when the town of Trafalgar was in its heyday. The three families of the Turners, O'Connells and Primroses, core to the Trafalagar Hotel, face the challenges of daily life, clashes of culture, a devastating war, and the inlfuenza pandemic, whilst watching their own children grow up to a rapidly changing world.
Based on the historical events which affected Trafalgar from 1900-1925, Nod to the Admiral brings the tiny town and its inhabitants to life with empathy and a touch of humour.
About the author
Born in the 1950s, Jenny Kroonstuiver spent her childhood living on pastoral stations firstly in western Queensland and then on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. She trained as a teacher and spent several years teaching in country areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland, before returning to Kalgoorlie in the 1980s. After a short-lived marriage, she raised her four children alone, continuing to work in the broader education sector. From 2004, she took up a role managing the national training system for the Australian meat industry, a role she held until her retirement in 2020. After publishing several family histories and biographies, this is her second novel in the series of the lost towns of the Eastern Goldfields of WA.
