'What did you decide to call her?' asked Lawson, looking over Jess's shoulder.'Opal,' said Jess, gazing lovingly at the little chestnut foal.'Bad-luck stones,' grunted Lawson.Finally the day has come when Jess can bring home her once-in-a-lifetime horse. But Opal falls ill, the local vet just can't find a cure and Lawson casts her out onto his cattle station to 'do or die'.Wild with anger and refusing to give up, Jess heads west on an outback droving trip with her best friends - and Luke. Will she be able to bring Opal home? And could Luke be her once-in-a-lifetime boy?

 

 

This book is part of a book series called Diamond Spirit .

This book has been graded for interest at 11-14 years.

There are 276 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2014 by Allen & Unwin .

Karen Wood has been involved with horses for most of her life. Her most special horse is a little chestnut gelding called Reo. She is married with two children and lives on the Central Coast, New South Wales.