Author(s): Fiona Stocker

* Tasmaniana

Saddleback Wife is a rural memoir and sequel to Fiona Stocker's first book Apple Island Wife - Slow Living in Tasmania. After watching too many episodes of River Cottage from the safety of their sofa, the Stockers turned their five acres in Tasmania into a free range pig farm, raising Wessex Saddlebacks among the eucalyptus trees. Taking their premium pork to the local award-winning farmers' market, they learned what it's like to be behind the counter in a farm and food business. What's the most you can charge for a pork sausage? And what it's like to be called 'the pig lady'? Struggling to keep family and business together, they found that things aren't always easy behind the farm gate. But they also found a deep love and respect for those most magnificent of creatures - pigs. Saddleback Wife is a book for foodies and those who want to know more about where their food comes from. It's for anyone who wants a behind-the-scenes look at the idyllic foodie-haven of Tasmania, at the pork 'underbelly' of farming life. It's also the story of two Saddleback sows called Rosie and Bella, and a boar called Co-Pilot Bob. Told with trademark wry humour and at times heart-breaking honesty, Saddleback Wife is a story about the struggle to make a living from land and livestock, and the reality behind the dream of gourmet farming.