Pearl in a cage. Joy Dettman. 2009.

On a balmy midsummer’s evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign and in labour - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community at Woody Creek.

The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives.

When no relatives come forth to claim the infant, Gertrude’s daughter Amber - who has recently lost a son in childbirth - and her husband Norman take the child in. In the ensuing weeks, Norman becomes convinced that God has sent them the baby and in an act of compassion, he names the child Jennifer and registers her in place of his dead son.

Loved by some but scorned by more, including her mother and sister, Jenny survives her childhood and grows into an exquisite and talented young woman. But who was her real mother? And why does she so strongly resemble Gertrude’s philandering ex-husband?