The Ripping Tree is an historical thriller, a tale of survival in colonial Australia. A woman has to find a way to escape the claustrophobic world that initially appears to be rescuing her. Get out – before they save you is the shoutline. I like to think of this book as a depth charge of truth, a love story wrapped within the glossy package of a thriller. It’s about a women embedded in a new family that may not be saving her after all; it’s about power and unfairness and female strength, a woman finding her voice.