Elianne

Elianne by Di Morrissey is a sweeping Australian historical fiction saga set amid the Southern Queensland sugar cane fields, where a grand mill becomes both a livelihood and a prison. Built in 1881 by “Big Jim” Durham for his young French wife, Elianne is more than an estate: it’s a self-contained world of power, loyalty and carefully guarded secrets.

Decades later, the story surges into the turbulent 1960s as Kate Durham and her brothers come of age in a changing Australia shaped by rock ’n’ roll, Vietnam, feminism and shifting ideas of freedom. As mechanisation reshapes the sugar industry and workers drift away, long-buried truths begin to surface—threatening the family’s standing and everything the name Elianne represents.

Perfect for readers who love multigenerational family drama, Queensland settings, and novels about social change and hidden histories.

Step into Elianne and see what survives when an empire starts to crack.