Looking Back on Wildflower Ridge and Bottlebrush Creek
A Journey of Heart, Home, and Rural Storytelling
Maya Linnell holding her book for the very first time
Holding an advance copy of Wildflower Ridge from the printer for the first time back in May 2019 will go down as one of my all-time favourite memories. As a lifelong book lover from rural Australia, it was inevitable that my debut novel would focus on strong country women, farming family dynamics, tight-knit communities and two of my favourite topics: baking and gardening.
Wildflower Ridge centres on Penny McIntyre, a country girl who fled to the city as soon as she graduated high school. Her high school flame, Tim Paterson, is a country boy through and through, and it was a treat for me to see their story of meeting again after many years apart unfold on the page.
I loved spending time with the four McIntyre sisters on their family farm in Victoria’s Western District, and as I was writing Penny’s story, it quickly became clear that each of her sisters deserved their own books too. Angie McIntyre and Rob ‘Jonesy’ Jones’s story was an easy choice for my second manuscript, Bottlebrush Creek, and its fixer-upper theme was partly inspired by the huge owner-builder project my husband and I completed in 2018. If you’ve ever lived through major renovations or plastered, paved and painted alongside your partner, you’ll understand why this plotline is ripe with conflict.
Covid struck just before Bottlebrush Creek hit the shelves. In lieu of a book tour, I had great fun sharing videos and writing updates from our small property in southwest Victoria (with guest appearances from our lambs, calves and chickens). I was humbled to hear that the books (and cute country content) brought joy to so many readers throughout lockdown.
Maya’s rural home and animals were regular features throughout the lockdown release of Bottlebrush Creek.
I’ll always be proud of these stories, and think this double-book bind up (out 3 December 2024, exclusively in Big W) is the perfect introduction to my style of rural romance. I hope you love them too! And if you’re after a regular dose of country living in your inbox or social media feed, visit me on Instagram and Facebook @maya.linnell.writes or sign up for my free quarterly newsletter, complete with bookish news, giveaways, event dates, gardening tips and recipes at mayalinnell.com.