THE CASTLEREAGH LINE

by ROSS NAPIER

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Used softcover book, first published 1984, this edition published 1987. Book measures 18 x 11 cms. 324 pages Book is in very good condition - not ex-library, clean tight binding, no loose, torn or missing pages. No writing or marks, pages yellowed with age.

No worse fate could befall a woman .... than to find herself at the mercy of Jack Seager...

... the story of the formation of the infamous, insidious Castlereagh Coach Company .... and its early years.

The Castlereagh Line commences in 1880 with the establishment of a Coach Line in northern New South Wales. The partners in the venture are Lottie Long, Jack Seager and Mat Gore.

Lottie arrives in northern Queensland to act as a governess only to find the man who employed her had no children but was expecting her to bear them for him. When he attempts to rape her, she kills him and escapes on a beautiful mare. She becomes a barmaid in Cloncurry, near a gold mining area. Jack is an unscrupulous villain who Lottie meets in the bar. He is as much taken by her horse as he is with her and after seducing her, convinces Lottie to travel south with him. On the way they are confronted by some miners from whom Jack has stolen gold. He kills them all then Jack and Lottie journey south to Tamworth. Mat Gore is a nice person on the surface, but he is a horse trader and equally as villainous as Jack. He doesn't care what happens, as long as he doesn't know about it.

More about the radio serial and the 6-book series:

The Castlereagh Line was a 910-episode Australian radio serial, by Ross Napier. It is the saga of a ruthless man with a single-minded determination, and of the woman he deserted. Lottie Long escapes torture and murder in Northern Queensland and meets Jack Seager in the bar where she is working in Cloncurry. Along with Mat Gore, they establish The Castlereagh Line in 1880 - a coach line with the benefit of a mail contract which covers northern New South Wales. Betrayed by Jack, Lottie uses his empire to build her own and creates a new life for herself.

Murder, rape, arson, robbery - The Castlereagh Line is full of action and intrigue. It mainly concerns the see-sawing fortunes of Carlotta 'Lottie' Long nee Clemens and John 'Jack' Seager in the years from 1880 to the early 1900s. The title refers to a horse coach line they set up in the Castlereagh River area of New South Wales.The title is also the first book of a series telling the same story: The Castlereagh Line, The Castlereagh Way, The Colours of Castlereagh, The Castlereagh Heritage, The Castlereagh Rose, The Castlereagh Cross.

About the author

Ross Napier was an Australian radio and TV writer best known for his work on the radio drama, The Castlereagh Line (which he later adapted into novels) and the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, for which he wrote a large number of episodes and served as a script editor.

Napier was one of Australia's leading radio writers from the 1950s to 1970s He began working for Associated Programs on the half hour drama series Address Unknown. He lived for a time in London, then returned to Australia in the 1950s and went to work for Grace Gibson, the radio producer, working on most of her dramas, particularly Portia Faces Life. When television arrived in Australia, Gibson combatted it by making five minute dramas, and Napier was one of her main writers of these until the 1970s.

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The Castlereagh Line by Ross Napier