Starting from Scratch

For readers of Karly Lane and Tricia Stringer...misunderstandings and injured pride stand in the way of true love in this charming rural romance from an award-winning and much-loved author.

After a troubled childhood and the loss of her beloved grandmother, Sapphie Brown finally finds somewhere to call home - the close-knit rural community of Horseshoe Hill.

The locals love Sapphie because she never gives up - as chair of the environment committee, with the children in her classes, the troubled teens at the youth centre, the ex-racehorses she cares for and even the neglected farmhouse and gardens she wants to make her own. Sapphie gives second chances to everything and everyone. Except Matts Laaksonen.

An impossibly attractive environmental engineer, Matts was Sapphie's closest childhood friend. He came to deliver a warning - now he doesn't want to leave.

All Sapphie wants to do is forget their painful past, but thrown together they discover an attraction that challenges what they thought they knew about each other. Do they have a chance to recapture what they lost so long ago? Or will long-buried secrets tear them apart?

In the flowers she creates from paper and the beauty that grows on the land, Sapphie has found perfect imperfection. Could that be what love is like too?

'Penelope Janu's fresh, bright, funny new twist on rural romance is an absolute delight. Her wit is as sharp as a knife. She is one of my absolute must-read authors.' VICTORIA PURMAN, bestselling Australian author

'Intriguing characters and a colourful setting: if you like romance and a little mystery, get ready to enjoy this novel.' TRICIA STRINGER

© 2026 Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd (Audiobook): 9781004266722

Release date

Audiobook: 3 December 2026