The True Story of Maddie Bright

A thoughtful, multi-layered tale that probes the stories we tell ourselves about family and friendship, power and control. MacColl's writing deftly - yet gently - explores the nature of courage and kept me guessing to the very end.' - Kirsty Manning, author of the bestselling The Jade LilyIn 1920, seventeen-year-old Maddie Bright gratefully accepts a job as a serving girl on the royal tour of Australia by Edward, Prince of Wales. Maddie's talents soon earn her the respect of Helen Burns, the prince's vivacious press secretary, and Rupert Waters, his most loyal man, and Maddie is in awe of Edward himself, the 'people's' prince.What starts as a desire to help her family, devastated by the recent war, becomes for Maddie a chance to work on something that matters. When the unthinkable happens, it is swift and life changing.Decades later, Maddie Bright is living in a ramshackle house in Paddington, Brisbane. She has Ed, her drunken and devoted neighbour, to talk to,...