Sometimes friendship is the only thing that keeps you afloat ...When Karen's husband drowns off the postcard-perfect Queensland coast, five women realise they are no longer happy to simply tread water in the shallow end of the local pool - and life. Karen wants distraction from the grief that threatens to overwhelm her - and she needs to feel that she could save a drowning swimmer if she had to. Charlie, a divorced mother of two young boys, needs to get fit - and get back into the swim of dating.Then there's Cate, the goddess of the swimming pool, newly married to a much older man; Laura, the dependable local GP everyone turns to for advice; and Wendy, the brisk and capable leading light of the P&C. And all of them have secrets ... Trading aquarobics for triathlon training, they cheer each other on to success, both in and out of the water. As their strokes improve, their friendship deepens and along the way they share tears, laughter and changing-room confidences.

'I want to find my own patch of dirt, put down my own deep roots and cling to that spot until I die. And then I want my ashes scattered there.' When Anne, a divorced author suffering from writer's block, and her new partner, Ian, a widower and fellow Scottish romantic, decide to take their deepening relationship to the next level and move in together, it isn't as simple as it sounds. There are their respective adult children's feelings to consider, plus Anne and Ian want to make a new start away from the scrutiny of the tiny township where they've both lived for many years. Their search takes them to the historic Queensland town of Maryborough, where the brief glimpse of a derelict house not even for sale is the start of a whole new life together. This is Anne's story of how she lovingly brought Baddow House - known locally as 'the Ghost House' - back to life, and in doing so both rediscovered her passion for writing and cemented her relationship with Ian. But it's not...