(Hardback cover image shown on right)

The Australian government is giving ex-servicemen a farm, as long as they clear the land themselves. Will a marriage of convenience give Andrew and Norah the chance they seek? Can two strangers be happy together? (Cover image shown to the left is for the special Australian edition, which came out in January 2009)

In Australia they have to clear the forest to make their own farms. But they’re both strong and willing to give it everything they’ve got. Then nature intervenes and not only their farms but their lives are in danger. Will they survive? Can they still make their dreams come true? (Image shown to the right is for the paperback edition)

ANNA'S NOTES
A few years ago I did a commission for a project run by some people living in a small town in the south-west of Western Australia. Northcliffe had been founded in 1924 when the state was short of dairy farms. The men who'd been given land helped clear the forest and they and their families worked gruellingly hard to create their farms.

The timber industry also flourished in the area but began to wane in the late 20th century. In the early 21st century, the town branched out and set up a tourist attraction, an Arts Forest Walk, with sculptures, paintings, music and stories based on the town, its setting and its history, all set out in the forest.

I found the history of Northcliffe fascinating and wrote a story about a group settler's wife set at the time of the founding ('The Group Settler's Wife') to give visitors an idea what life had been like then.

But I wanted to write a longer book with the background of group settlement, so proposed this to my UK publisher - and that's how 'Freedom's Land' came to be written.

The book was a joy to write and one day I hope to write a sequel to it.