Fiona is married to Stuart, and they have a two-year-old son, Oliver. Love in the Age of Drought is Fiona's first book.

Launch
Love in the Age of Drought was launched at Berkelouw Books, Leichhardt, on 31st March 2009. Click here for photos and speeches on the night.

For bookclubs
Some useful questions to assist bookclub discussions: click here .

Synopsis
When Fiona Collins meets Stuart Higgins at a conference in Melbourne, she isn't looking for a relationship, let alone the upheaval of falling for an eco-aware cotton farmer from South-East Queensland. But then life never goes quite according to plan…

When Stuart sends Fiona a pair of crusty old boots and a declaration of his feelings just sixteen days into their relationship, it's the start of a love story that endures - in spite of distance, the strain of Stuart's farm entering its fourth year of drought, and Fiona's own issues with commitment.

Something's got to give and eventually Fiona puts everything on the line - her career, her Sydney life, her future - and moves to Stuart's farm. Nearest township? Jandowae, population 750.

Here, Fiona encounters an Australia she's never really known, replete with snakes on the doorstep, frogs in the toilet, and the perils of the bush telegraph. Gradually she begins to fall in love with rural life, but as Stuart struggles to balance commercial and environmental realities, she realises that farming isn't quite as simple as she'd imagined.

Ultimately, Fiona has to learn how to cope with the devastating impact of the drought that grips the countryside, and what it means for Stuart, the farm, and their future together.

'Love in the Age of Drought is a delightful fish-out-of-water story about the city-country culture clash overcome by the course of true love. Written with heart and humour, it's also a moving portrait of country Australia's capacity for survival and renewal amid a drought that won't be broken.'

- Good Reading Magazine, April 2009