White Gardenia

Belinda Alexandra

Dec 2010 · Bolinda · Narrated by Deidre Rubenstein

About this audiobook

Beginning in a small village on the Chinese-Russian border in the final days of World War II, White Gardenia tells the story of a mother and daughter separated by war. In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for white Russian families since Russia's Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to live. White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price of survival too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?

About the author

Belinda Alexandra has been published to international acclaim. She is the daughter of a Russian mother and an Australian father, and has been an intrepid traveller since her youth. Her love of other cultures and languages is matched by her passion for her home country, Australia, where she is a volunteer rescuer and carer for the NSW Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES).

Deidre Rubenstein is regarded as one of Australia's most accomplished actresses. As a stage actress, she has starred in productions with all major Australian theatre companies and has created three highly acclaimed one-woman shows which have toured Australia and overseas. Deidre won an Australian Film Industry (AFI) award for Best Actress in the mini-series Palace of Dreams and is also a multi-award-winning narrator. Audiobooks narrated for Bolinda include Elizabeth Costello by Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee, Gilgamesh by Joan London, Elizabeth Harrower novels and various ABC titles.