Pearl in a Cage ended in May 1939 when, just fifteen years old, Jenny Morrison fled Woody Creek for a new life in Melbourne. She left behind a dysfunctional family, a town of small-minded gossips and, most tragically, a newborn baby - the product of a vicious rape. Mustering all her strength, she resolved to put her past behind her, reclaim her identity and pursue her dream of becoming a famous singer... Yet just months later she is back - wiser and with an expensive new wardrobe - but with a second child growing in her belly. Cruelly labelled the "town slut", she finds refuge in Gertrude, her kind-hearted, dependable granny and Woody Creek's indomitable midwife, and settles into a routine in the ever-expanding household. Exactly how Vern Cooper - the one man Gertrude truly loves - fits into this family of misfits is something that Gertrude will have to grapple with. Jenny thrives and, daring once again to dream, leaves Woody Creek for a second time and moves to Sydney, where at last it seems that the beautiful young songstress may find happiness... But can the past ever truly be buried? And will Jenny Morrison ever fulfil her destiny? Spanning a momentous wartime decade and dramatising rural Australia's complex and mysterious heart, Thorn on the Rose confirms Joy Dettman's place as one of our most gifted - and underrated - storytellers.