Author(s): Justin Smith

Fiction

From the acclaimed author of Cooper Not Out comes a delightfully comic novel set in the Melbourne Goldrush era that reimagines the running of the inaugural Melbourne Cup.

Some stories are too good to be true ... In the year 1861, there were three campfires burning outside the gold mining town of Mull Creek, in the British colony of Victoria.

At the first is Jesus Whitetree, an escaped orphan with no knowledge of his new world, not even his age or real name. He only knows he wants to find gold. Gold makes everything good.

At the second fire is the Jack Pink Gang. Jack is a little-known bushranger who is a violent criminal by day and a nervous wreck by night. His mother - a notorious criminal known throughout the colony as Mother Pink - engages the services of a bush poet to get Jack's name in the newspapers and make him feared and famous.

And at the third fire is Mary, a young Aboriginal girl, and police constable Harry Logan. Harry has a good heart, but he also has Mary in chains. Despite her hard life and current circumstances, Mary remains smart, cheeky and troublesome to the struggling policeman.

With the announcement of the first Melbourne Cup, all three parties descend upon Melbourne town. And the thrilling horserace offers something different for each of them - a new beginning, a chance to be written into history, or a prize bigger than they could imagine. But only one can take the gold.

GOOD AS GOLD is a reimagining of the very first 'race that stops a nation', and a heartwarming story about triumph and the things that mean more than gold.