Rural romance in focus

Best selling author to visit Mount Gambier & Portrland

Best-selling author Fleur McDonald will launch her latest novel Broad River Station as part of her Australian tour with visits to both the Mount Gambier and Portland libraries this month. Celebrating her 20th novel, Fleur will be holding an event at the at the Mount Gambier Library on Monday, November 14, at 7pm and a lunch time event the gfollowing day at the Portland facility.

Mount Gambier Library ccting manager library and community development Kristi Brooks said Fleur was one of Australia’s leading rural literature authors. Her books become best-sellers almost as quickly as they hit the shelves.

“Having sold over 700,000 copies of her books, Fleur McDonald has solidified her position as one of the country’s favourite storytellers,” Ms Brooks said. The Portland event will be hosted by local bestselling author Maya Linnell, of Wildflower Ridge fame, and will discuss Fleur’s latest release, as well as rural living and strong women overcoming adversity – some of the key themes of many of Fleur’s popular novels.

Fleur is a prolific author with more than 19 titles under her belt, including Fool’s Gold, Without a Doubt and Red Dirt Country. Alongside her passion for writing, McDonald is also the Founder of non-for-profit organisation DVassist, formally known as Breaking the Silence.

Glenelg library and information services manager Tanya Flockhart anticipated the Portland event would book out. “Fleur is one of Australia’s favourite storytellers, and her titles are regularly being borrowed by our Library members across the Shire, so we expect there will be a number of loyal readers attending this exciting local event,” she said.

“In Fleur’s latest book Broad River Station, the protagonist Mia, a newly graduated constable. is assigned to Broad River on her first posting, a small country town. Mia battles conflict with colleagues who believe that women shouldn’t be coppers, a missing person case and family struggles as her grandmother struggles with the onset of dementia. “Fleur writes from her own experiences in rural Australia, having lived and worked on farms for much of her life. Rural living is always a popular topic for our Glenelg Libraries readers, and with so many successful titles under her belt we know that audiences will be eager to learn more about Fleur and this latest novel.”

Fleur draws inspiration from having lived and worked on farms for much of her life and now owns 4050 hectares across regional Western Australia.

She likes to write about strong women overcoming adversity, drawing on her own experiences in rural Australia, with most of them featuring her leading detective, Dave Burrows.

Both the Mount Gambier and Portland events are free.

You can book for the Mount Gambier event by contacting the Mount Gambier Library on (08)8721 2540 or book online at www.mountgambier.sa.gov. au/library under ‘Programs and Events’.

Bookings are also essential for the Portland event, which is from 11am to 12 noon with a light lunch provided by calling (03)5522 2265.