The Middle of Nowhere - Geraldine McCaughrean

When Mary Pinny dies from a snakebite, she leaves her young
daughter, Comity, and husband Herbert in the Middle of Nowhere.
As Stationmaster of the Kinkindele Repeater Station, Herbert
Pinny takes great pride in his job; receiving morse messages and
passing them down the Wire to the rest of Australia and beyond.
But Comity dreams of a different life - where her mother is alive
and she has her own horse and a new piano - and sends letters to
her grandmother and her snooty aunt full of colourful tales of
her imaginary life. That is, until the new station assistant,
Quartz Hogg, arrives and brings Comity and her father sharply
back down to earth.

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