Wendy James Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Wendy James
Wendy James was born in the year 1966 in Sydney, Australia. She got her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, a PhD from the University of New England, Armidale, and an MA in writing from University of Technology, Sydney.

“Out of Silence” won the 2006 Ned Kelly Award for first crime novel, and became shortlisted for the Nita May Dobbie award for women’s writing. “The Golden Child” was shortlisted for the 2017 Ned Kelly Award for crime.

Wendy’s debut novel, called “Out of the Silence”, was released in the year 2005. work is from the historical fiction, literature, and mystery and thriller genres.

“Out of the Silence” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2005. This stunning debut is about three women from very different worlds. There’s Elizabeth Hamilton (whose own disappointment in love has only served to strengthen her humanity), Vida Goldstein (the suffragist that was to become the very first woman to stand for Parliament), and Maggie Heffernan (a spirited working class girl).

When Maggie’s life descends into darkness following a horrible betrayal, the three women’s world’s collide. The story is based on a true story and unfolds right at the dawn of the twentieth century against a captivating backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement and a world that is on the brink of major change.

The novel evokes women’s plight during the early 1900s, not least their limited options, whatever their education and class might be. But at its core this is a tale of love, of love gone wrong. Of its disappointments and compromises, however ultimately its extraordinary transformative power.

Readers found this novel to be a work of talent and intelligence informed by a deeply humane sensitivity.

“The Steele Diaries” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2008. This novel weaves together the narratives of three incredibly different women that live in vastly different time periods. And this paints the evocative and rich portrait of the Sydney art scene from the thirties and on to the seventies, along with the eternal conflict between motherhood and self.

Zelda Steele, the only child of two famous yet self-absorbed artists, gets adopted by her parents patrons when she’s just a baby. Great things are then expected of this privileged young lady, however at the age of 27, she is dead, and leaving behind two young kids and a body of work which only hints at her promise.

Decades later, Ruth (Zelda’s daughter) comes back to her childhood home to locate the diaries that her mom is rumored to have had. What they reveal takes Ruth on a journey back into the past: her mom’s, her grandma’s. And ultimately, her own.

“Where Have You Been?” is the third stand alone novel and was released in the year 2010. Ed and Susan Middleton are perfectly happily with their lives. Two cars, two kids, and their solid brick bungalow out in the suburbs. There is hardly a ripple in the surface of their happy existence.

However when her older sister, who disappeared when she was a teen, shows up to claim an inheritance, everything is going to change. Karen, who is now known as Carly, has been having a tough time during the previous twenty years, which has been made up of prison, drugs, and prostitution.

While Carly works herself into the Middleton’s lives, suspicions get aroused. Is she actually Susan’s sister, returning from the dead? And if she isn’t Karen, then who is she really?

This is an engrossing mystery, and one that dumps the reader right into the characters and their growth from the very beginning. This is one that is sure to keep you guessing until the very end, and Wendy grabs your attention with this family drama and all of the compelling personalities.

“The Mistake” is the fourth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2012. We’ve all got secrets. Jodie Garrow is a teen that comes from the wrong side of the tracks when she gets pregnant. Alone, scared, and desperate to make something out of her life, she adopts the baby out illegally and doesn’t tell anyone.

Twenty-five years later, she’s built a new life and a new family. However when a chance encounter brings this adoption to authorities’ notice, she gets caught up in a nationwide police investigation, and is at the heart of a media witch hunt.

What actually happened to her child? And where is she at now? The fallout from her past puts her entire family under the microscope, and her daughter and husband have to re-examine everything they formerly thought was true. This is a the story of a mom and the media’s powerful role in shaping our opinions.

This is a moving novel which hits the mark in such a relentless way. Wendy’s sure hands leads us through the sometimes redemptive, sometimes harrowing moments in the lives of her beautifully rounded characters.

“The Lost Girls” is the fifth stand alone novel and was released in the year 2014. This is the powerful story about secrets and families and the dark shadows the past is able to cast. Curl Curl, Sydney in January of 1978. Angie is a looker. Or she will be. She is just fourteen, however heads already turn wherever she goes. Male heads, at least.

Jane worships Angie, who is her older cousin. She spends her entire summer vying for Angie’s attention. Angie gets murdered, which shatters both Jane and her family. They withdraw back into themselves, and cast a veil of silence over Angie’s death.

Thirty years go by, and a journalist shows up with some questions about this tragic event. Jane’s relieved to talk about her adored cousin at last. So is her family. However whose version of Angie’s story, and of Angie herself, is the true one? And can past wrongs ever be corrected?

The stunning truth of Angie’s final days are going to force Jane to question everything that she used to believe. Because nothing, not the past nor the present, is like she once imagined it to be.