Apple Island Wife: Slow Living In Tasmania by Fiona Stocker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a delightful account of a family making a new life in the beautiful countryside of the Tamar Valley in northern Tasmania. Fiona tells their story with gentle humour and affectionate descriptions of the people she meets. She is refreshingly honest about the challenges of being a Mum to her young children, especially about the tiredness, and the frustration of spending so many hours in the house. She tells of her strategies to sort this out; the weekly playgroup to meet other mums, a walk every day with the children, regular yoga classes, and writing a blog, which happily led to the publication of this book.
The family settles in to country life and over time becomes adept at dealing with llamas, chickens, and guineafowl, whilst establishing a productive vegetable garden and harvesting their own wood for the woodstove. Oliver knocks up some intriguing contraptions in his workshop and at last, Midget, the border collie, works out how to manage her wayward family flock.
A lovely read, which has left me hoping to visit Northern Tasmania one day and looking forward to the sequel, Saddleback Wife.
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Helen Stephenson 