Heart Country

Kerry McGinnis

Mar 2020 · Bolinda · Narrated by Miranda Nation

About this audiobook

After seven tough years of droving, Kerry McGinnis yearns for a proper home. When her irascible but lovable father buys a property in Queensland’s Gulf Country, it seems she might have found one, but not everything goes smoothly. In their struggle to make a go of things, the family encounters fire, flood, a three-metre python and other, human obstacles. Kerry and her sister Judith discover that life in a man's country is far from easy. At a time when young women are expected to settle down and have a family, Kerry must make some difficult decisions about love, marriage and her passionate desire to write. Full of exuberance, humour and courage, Heart Country is an uplifting account of life in a land of incredible beauty and harsh demands.

About the author

Kerry McGinnis was born in Adelaide and, at the age of twelve, took up a life of droving with her father and three siblings. The family travelled extensively across the Northern Territory and Queensland before settling on a station in the Gulf Country. Kerry has worked as a shepherd, droving hand, gardener, and stock-camp and station cook. She is the author of two memoir volumes and now lives in Bundaberg.

An award-winning filmmaker, Miranda has combined her passions for storytelling and social justice on diverse projects; from devised theatre with trafficked women, to running film workshops in a refugee camp. Originally training and working as an actress, Miranda shifted her focus to writing and directing, especially driven to create strong complex roles for women. Miranda’s short films have played at international festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, Edinburgh, Sydney and Melbourne. Her feature film Undertow premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2018.