Rural Dreams

From award-winning crime writer Margaret Hickey comes a collection of captivating short stories celebrating the Australian countryside.

Margaret Hickey's Rural Dreams takes a look at life outside the big smoke, featuring the kind of characters you might expect in the country - as well as some you might not.

A football coach ponders obsession . . . a mouse plague dictates school yard politics . . . a failed playwright asks 'who gets the farm?' . . . and a young woman returns to her fire-ravaged town.

People we know. People we grew up with. Some of them might even be us . . .

Funny, heartbreaking and true, Rural Dreams highlights the richness of life on the land and showcases the beauty of lives lived outside city walls.


'Each story brings a richness of character and experience, unexpected and utterly authentic.' Marian Matta, author of Life, Bound

'Stories that are lively, entertaining and authentic.' Martin Flanagan

'There's a beauty in these stories that feels reminiscent of fairy tales - not all with happy endings - but all leaving you feeling like you've understood something of what it is to be human.' Westerly Magazine

'It's a cliche to say that there's something for everyone in this book but there just is.' Books+Publishing

About the Author

Margaret Hickey is an award-winning author and playwright from North East Victoria. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and is deeply interested in rural lives and communities. She is the author of the bestsellers Cutters End, Stone Town, Broken Bay and The Creeper. Her collection of short stories, Rural Dreams, about country life will be released in January 2025.