About the book

The bestselling author of The Thorn Birds moves to HarperCollins with a novel of laughter, passion and more than a little magic ...Sydney's Kings Cross, 1960: Harriet Purcell leaves her conventional, respectable Bronte home and respectable, passionless boyfriend and moves into a rooming house owned by Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz.There Harriet finds a life she relishes. Her world oscillates between two poles - the starchy hospital where she works as an X-ray technician, and the madcap nonconformity of Kings Cross.Landlady Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz makes an under-the-lap living from telling fortunes, and is mother to four-year-old Flo. Beautiful little Flo - the 'Angel Puss' of the title - is mute, and Harriet comes to love her as if Flo were her own.Awakened to pain and terror, the confusions of the heart and the preciousness of her new life, Harriet battles to retain her freedom and her integrity against overwhelming odds.Angel Puss is Colleen McCullough at her vintage best, writing of a world that has gone: its dynamism, laughter, and unbridled passions. Most of all, it is a tale of women's love for children, and what they are prepared to endure to protect and nurture a beloved child.