The Touch by Colleen McCullough

In the 1870s, the vast and unforgiving landscape of New South Wales draws Alexander Kinross — a young Scottish miner with ambition burning in his veins. After striking it rich in the Australian goldfields, he summons a bride he has never met to join him in his new empire.

Elizabeth Drummond arrives, innocent and dutiful, to find herself bound to a man she barely knows — and trapped in a world ruled by secrets, greed, and desire. Yet within the harsh beauty of the Australian frontier, her spirit begins to awaken.

As passions ignite and loyalties are tested, the lives of Alexander, Elizabeth, and those around them intertwine in a sweeping tale of love, betrayal, and survival.