Out of the Blue: the fresh new 2026 rural romance of adventure, hope and self-belief from a beloved Australian author

For readers of Karly Lane and Fleur McDonald, comes this fresh rural romance about courage, hope and learning to believe in love from an award-winning, much-loved author.

A traumatic past, a charismatic stranger, a closeknit community...life is about to get complicated.

Flick Atherton loves the country towns where she lives, her work with migratory birds and the bond she shares with her late brother's daughter. The last thing she needs is a man telling her what to do. Particularly the arrogant, frighteningly competent Norwegian air-force pilot Sebastien Thorsen. When she accepts an assignment in the sub-Antarctic, her biggest challenge isn't the sub-zero temperature or her long-held fears, it's Sebastien.

Head of the UN environmental team funding Flick's position, and an all-round adrenaline junkie, Sebastien is the last man Flick should be attracted to. But the tiny Antarctic community is closeknit and vulnerabilities, both Flick's and Sebastien's, are impossible to hide. Working to finish a job he didn't want to take, Sebastien finds Flick a risk unlike any he has ever encountered, and he is frustrated yet entranced by her impossible mix of fragility and independence.

When the assignment is over and Flick is home again, can she leave her fears and the shadows of the past behind her? Will she accept that the love she's found, even when it is out of the blue, might be all she'll ever need?