THE story of a woman -- with her 1950s glamour and city sensibilities -- adjusting to life on the unrelenting red soil of the Mallee has been shared in a novel by debut author Anne Brinsden.

Brinsden, who grew up in Mildura, said she aspired to become an author only after she realised she was "making up stories in her head" while driving from Ballarat to Melbourne in silence each day for work.

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