It is often a spur-of-the-moment decision that can become a turning point in life. So it is for Kitty Morland, a young woman in London in 1878. When she yields to temptation one fateful day the consequences of her action force her to flee to the other side of the world, to the small timber town of Bulahdelah in the mid-north coast of New South Wales, home of the giant cedar trees. On board the ship carrying her to the other side of the world Kitty meets three men who will influence her future Rufe Cavanagh, a dashing Colonial, William Barron, an English aristocrat, and Jan van Mayen, a South African diamond merchant. Beautiful and spirited, Kitty needs all her courage and determination to survive the ordeal of marriage to a bullying husband, but when she has a chance for love and happiness she must make a difficult decision. An Independent Woman is the first book in a trilogy by the author of the highly praised Inheritance