Book Club April: The Long Road Home by Fiona McCallum

Australian author Fiona McCallum shares the secrets behind her 12 successful novels and why the characters are so close to her heart. Here’s how you can win a copy of her new book.

Every morning as the sun rises over suburban Adelaide, Fiona McCallum sits with a blank, bound notebook and pencil to novelise her life.

The death of her father, the breakdown of her marriage and a decade of rejection from publishers and agents almost destroyed the best-selling author.

But Fiona said her hardships and failures led to an incredible and soul-fulfilling life.

Fiona McCallum talks about her new book The Long Road Home. Photo: Supplied

“I wouldn’t change anything about my journey,” she says.

“It is true, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It also gives you plenty to write about.”

In less than 10 years, Fiona has poured her pain into 12 novels based on heartwarming journeys of self-discovery where characters – mainly women – discover their strength, independence and ultimately a better life.

Growing up on a cereal and wool farm near South Australia’s Cleve on the Eyre Peninsula, Fiona developed a love for the land.

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Fiona McCallum’s twelfth book has hit the shelves.

“Rural Australia played a big part in who I am,” Fiona says.

“Small country towns can be the most inclusive, wonderfully loving and supportive places and also the loneliest, destructive hotbeds of nasty gossip, depending on who you are and what you are going through. I left the area in my mid-twenties with a broken heart.”

She says with the ups and downs of life she learnt to be true to herself, which is a lesson at the heart of new book The Long Road Home.

The powerful story, which is part of a sequel to Fiona’s previous book A Life of Her Own, focuses on timely issues of toxic masculinity, rural isolation and rebuilding fractured relationships.

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The Long Road Home by Fiona McCallum.

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In the novel readers meet Alice Hamilton again, who is embracing her new-found freedom in Ballarat. She learns knowledge is power and is looking forward to pursuing a career in law and making a difference.

While Alice’s life is looking up, back in Hope Springs her former husband Rick Peterson is falling to pieces. After a chance meeting a few months earlier, Rick and Alice reconnected. It’s fortunate because Rick needs Alice’s friendship more than ever.

Rick, a third-generation farmer, has always felt lost but now wants to find the courage to stand up for himself in order to be truly happy.

Fiona says, like most of her stories, The Long Road Home is inspired by her rich and contrasting life experiences, love of animals and fascination with human nature.

Emily Forbes and Fiona McCallum have both been short-listed for Ruby Awards for romance writing.

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“Toxic masculinity played a huge part in my life – especially growing up in rural South Australia,” she says.

“I was raised knowing the clear and different roles for men and women and to not question them.

“For example, I would have loved to have taken over our family farm but because I have a brother I was raised with the notion boys get farms and girls get husbands. It was never worth posing the question.

“In The Long Road Home I wanted to explore the reverse of my experience, the pressure and consequences for an unwilling ‘chosen one’.

“I think a lot of children are born into family businesses – not just farming – who experience the pressure to stay and work in the business.

“My characters never go through something at an emotional level that I haven’t been through myself.”

Author Fiona McCallum pictured at Linear Park. Photo: Sam Wundke

The 49-year-old has loved books for as long as she can remember, seeing them as a means to escape the loneliness of farm life and stress of being bullied.

“I loved being immersed in Enid Blyton’s worlds and remember at nine wanting to be a writer just like her – to entertain and provide escapism to others,” she says.

“I wrote mainly poetry after leaving school until I went to university as a mature-aged student.”

Author Fiona McCallum with her first book Paycheck

University studies and a creative writing short course motivated her to pen her first novel, Paycheck, which was published in 2011.

“I didn’t find a publisher prepared to take a risk on me and offer a contract until after I had written four manuscripts,” she says.

Fiona says her career highlights include pursuing a career as a full-time novelist, hearing of her first top 10 listing, and crying and laughing with readers who resonate with her books.

Fiona McCallum, Hannah March, Gail Fuller attended the event Women in Media SA presents Five in Five at the University of South Australia. Picture: Ben MacMahon

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She has accomplished more than many have but just wants one thing – to see her late-father again.

“I think he would have been really chuffed to be able to listen to his own daughter’s books on audio,” she says.

“I want to inspire others to change their lives for the better if they’re not happy. There’s no better feeling than proving people wrong.”