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'A new year begins with the community of Thompson’s Ridge united in grief at the sudden death of much-loved local Fran Hobart. Her passing was not unexpected - everyone knew she was fighting a grim battle with cancer. However, her death at the height of a raging dust storm seems to underscore the woes that have befallen the small Australian town during a savage summer.
'The once-thriving community has slowly withered since the closure of the local saw mill. As families left, the high school was closed and businesses struggled. In more recent years, drought has seared the countryside, threatening the precarious survival of farm stock. And now a spate of dust storms torment the town with their cruel winds and rainless thunder and lightning.
'The townsfolk rally round Fran’s husband, Father George, the local priest, and her funeral is one of the biggest the town has ever seen. Ironically, it brings with it the end of the drought - a drenching rain storm that suggests hope for the future.
'Former primary school principal Maggie Hardcastle and recent Thompson’s Creek arrival Louise Smith discover that Fran had been trying to persuade troubled and reclusive widow Patricia Carmody to seek professional help. What’s more, she was simultaneously supporting Patricia’s daughter Becky who should be starting high school this year in the town of Coorbong 70km away.
'Maggie is able to secure a generous scholarship offer for Becky, but she and Louise meet with bitter resistance from the child’s mother.
'Bob Wilson’s dinner date with Kirsty McJames following the Christmas Orphans’ Club lunch went well, but, rather than the romance he hoped it might spark, he finds himself stuck in the friend zone and playing uncle to her twin boys.
'Then current primary school principal Jamie Zammit learns his and possibly the town’s greatest fear is about to come true - the authorities plan to close the school at the end of the year due to falling enrolments.
'And as the rain keeps falling too, it’s realized that the Diggers Lane hobby farm development promoted by a shonky real estate company a decade ago has never been tested by real downpours.
'Young Becky Carmody reflects on how Fran encouraged her to pray for rain, but she and everyone else in Thompson’s Ridge are about to learn it never rains, but it pours.'
Source : publisher's blurb
