A Coolongolook resident, Mrs Loveday’s novel explores the area and the Australian way of life during the 1800s, when Bulahdelah was a thriving timber-cutting town.

Mrs Loveday, who has worked as a travel writer, said she loves writing stories set in Australia.

“Historically, it is a very interesting area, there is a wealth of history,” Mrs Loveday said.

“It’s very important to write about our own area. I have travelled to other countries and I am proud to be Australian, and as a writer if you really like an area then why not write about it?”

Mrs Loveday said it was something different, as most Australian stories were based in larger towns and cities.

While the characters and events are fiction, Mrs Loveday said she has endeavoured to stay historically true to the era and the area.

She spent at least a year researching with help from the Myall Historical Society, and said there were quite a few recognisable local landmarks in An Independent Woman.

“I discovered that the Plough Inn had been there since the 1870s I think, and of course there is Bulahdelah Mountain, the Myall River and the landscape itself.”

The novel follows the story of a young English woman who leaves England, starting a new life in Bulahdelah.

It also documents the history of women in Australia, another interest of Mrs Loveday’s.

“I did a lot of research into women’s history and explored how inferior to men they were as far as the law was concerned.”

An Independent Woman is the first of a trilogy, with the second instalment, A Liberated Woman, due to be released later this year.

An Independent Woman is available at Myalla Restaurant, Bulahdelah, Manning Gallery, Taree, Artisan’s Retreat, Mondrook and Gloucester Bookshop or visit Mrs Loveday’s website at www.kateloveday.com