The Old Balmain House

8 year old Sophie vanished - where did she go? For 100 years nobody knows.

Who was Sophie and what happened to her? On buying an old weatherboard house in Balmain, Sydney, we discover her photo, dated 1900-1908. It has been hidden, along with a small perfume bottle in an old fireplace for a century.

We find out Sophie disappeared with a childhood friend in 1908 and was never seem again, leaving a trail of sadness through generations of her family.

This book tracks the journey of the discovery of Sophie and her family, from their first arrival in Sydney, over five generations of the family, until the mystery is finally laid to rest.

It is a story of loss and grief, mixed with joy, which passes through the successive generations of a family. How the family deals with an unresolved tragedy and finally the way their love transcends time is the story from which the real Sophie emerges.

Set around beautiful Sydney Harbor this is a story of people and place, starting in early Australia and running through to the present day.

Graham Wilson, the author, lived in the house in Balmain on which this story is based for seven years. This is his first novel.