Take Two & add a farm! HOW DANIELLE FOUND HER BLISS

The Kiwi author's country crush is contagious and has led to some bestsellers

- Fleur Guthrie

Drawing on and demystifying country life was not something author Danielle Hawkins initially set out to do when she started writing as a hobby 16 years ago.

Her “elaborate apocaly-pticthemed” story was sent off to an Australian publisher – and politely rejected – but it was suggested she might like to try writing a rural romance.

Now, as she releases her sixth novel, Take Two, the Kiwi writer says that advice proved priceless – even if actress “Reese Witherspoon isn’t calling!” wanting to make films from her books.

“In the beginning, I thought I might be the next international literary sensation,” says Ōtorohangabased Danielle, 46, who works part-time as a largeanimal vet.

“My first book sold a respectable 12,000 copies, but I didn’t realise that there’s always a lot of buzz about debut authors, because nobody knows yet if you’re going to be the big one. And I certainly hoped writing might be an actual financial help.” (Spoiler alert, “It isn’t!”)

Growing up in the King Country, the self-confessed bookworm only ever wanted to be a vet and was impacted by Yorkshire vet-turned-writer James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small.

After graduating in veterinary science, her first job was in Mangawhai, where she met her husband Jarrod, who was managing a dairy farm at the time.

“A few years later, we thought we’d go share-milking and work up to farm ownership. Then my parents asked if we wanted to come home and lease their sheep and beef farm.”