Former Tantanoola resident Maya Linnell may have had to postpone talks at the Mount Gambier, Millicent and Penola libraries owing to COVID restrictions, but her third book has been met with critical acclaim and best-selling status.

The positive reception to Magpie’s Bend since its June launch has buoyed Ms Linnell and partly compensated for her disrupted book promotion tour across four states. The Millicent High School graduate and former journalist said all the book promotion events in this region and South West Victoria since the start of June were postponed.

“We managed several interstate events at Wagga Wagga, Dalby, Chinchilla and Preston before going into lockdown in the Sunshine Coast, then a rush trip home to isolate as per government restrictions,” Ms Linnell said. “We’re unsure as to whether the rest of the book tour will go ahead, depending on lockdown and restrictions.

“Mount Gambier is currently scheduled for late August, have not set a date for Millicent or Penola yet, of course the border restrictions will be a big factor. Magpie’s Bend was the number five best-selling romance novel in the Weekend Australian newspaper on July 3 and it made the Australian Fiction Bestsellers chart for the month of June.

Nowadays Ms Linnell and her family live near Portland with a home-town connection assisting her sales. Book reviewer Michelle Beesley said Ms Linnell had found huge success in the much-loved rural romance genre. “Her writing is honest, heart-warming and relatable and reading her stories feels like catching up with an old friend,” she said. “Each of these three terrific reads take us back to rural Australia and it’s comforting to catch up with all our favourite characters once again.”