All you want is a taste of home. When you are serving your country on the frontline, you're often required to operate at a frenetic pace.

However, for most troops, there's also plenty of downtime. When they're alone, their thoughts turns to the life they've left behind.

These moments were the inspiration behind a new book, Operation Trooplift: Postcards From Home, an anthology of literary and photographic works designed to raise the spirits of servicemen and women.

The book's editor, Hoppers Crossing resident Heather Sadler, a former employee at RAAF Williams in Laverton, compiled the book with a team of public servants from the defence forces, with the aim to support their uniformed brethren on overseas operations.

Mrs Sadler said the book was intended recognise the sacrifices made by troops and to serve as a warm reminder of what awaited them when they returned – hugs, pride, leisure time, beaches and fun.

Many of the 50 submissions were made by defence forces personnel, with one of the stories even sent through on behalf of a major serving in Iraq.

"Everybody gets bored, including our troops, but this book provides a resource they can just pick up and read whenever they have a spare moment or two," Mrs Sadler said.

"There are stories from mothers, ones on the Anzac spirit, on Christmas and every topic from fiction to horror, humour and even romance. The photography and artwork are largely based around Australiana."

The book was finished and ready for print in February last year, but the process of getting to the stage where it is now available to public is even more remarkable given that Mrs Sadler suffered a stroke 18 months ago.

She lost her speech, but with the

help of therapy she has slowly started to regain it after a long recovery process.

"I was determined to get the book out," she said. "This project was too important to give up and the emails of support kept me going."