Bestselling author Fleur McDonald is holding an author talk in Shepparton on Friday, November 18, for the launch of her newest novel, Broad River Station.
Ms McDonald has sold over 700,000 copies of her books, using her own experience of growing up and living in rural Australia as her inspiration.
Broad River Station is about young constable Mia, who is dealing with prejudice in a small country town and the diagnosis of her grandmother’s dementia.
Taking centre stage is the disappearance of a missing child alongside the sabotaging of an organic farm with synthetic chemical sprays.
With the aim of writing to lived experiences, Ms McDonald undertook research on these issues.
“It’s important to write authentically,” Ms McDonald said.
“For this novel, I got a detective friend to help with the investigative side of things such as the way police speak to each other and terminology.
“Some of the things that happened to Mia had happened to real detectives I’d spoken to.
“I also put a call out on Twitter asking to chat to an organic farmer and in half an hour I was in contact with an organic broadacre farmer who shared their knowledge, which was really helpful for my story.”
The inspiration for the novel derived from one of Australia’s biggest unsolved mysteries, the case of the missing Beaumont children.
“The seed started with the missing child, and Beaumont children had air time as I was writing this book, so I did some research into it,” Ms McDonald said.
“When a child goes missing, I talk about how communities pull together in tough times, and that’s a great strength of our rural communities and I wanted to highlight that in this story.”
This won’t be Ms McDonald’s first time in Shepparton and after a two-year hiatus from interstate book tours, she’s celebrating it with a special competition.
“I’ll be doing a treasure hunt across Australia. In some towns I stop in, not ones I do events in, I’ll be putting a free book out for someone to take, which will be announced on my social media,” she said.
To win a free book from Ms McDonald, follow her @fleurmcdonald on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and at fleurmcdonaldauthor on Tiktok.
The author talk with Ms McDonald will be at the Shepparton Library on Friday, November 18 at 6pm where copies of the book will be available for purchase.
To book tickets, contact Goulburn Valley Libraries on 1300 374 765 or email at shepparton@gvlibraries.com.au or book via Eventbrite.