Download or read book The Girl from Snowy River The Matilda Saga 2 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of The Man from Snowy River comes a gripping and courageous sequel to A Waltz for Matilda The year is 1919. Thirty years have passed since the man from Snowy River made his famous ride. But World War I still casts its shadow across a valley in the heart of Australia, particularly for orphaned sixteen-year-old Flinty McAlpine, who lost a brother when the Snowy River men marched away to war. Why has the man Flinty loves returned from the war so changed and distant? Why has her brother Andy 'gone with cattle', leaving Flinty in charge of their younger brother and sister and with the threat of eviction from the farm she loves so dearly? A brumby muster held under the watchful eye of the legendary Clancy of the Overflow offers hope. Now Flinty must ride to save her farm, her family and the valley she loves. Set among the landscapes of the great poems of Australia, this book is a love song to the Snowy Mountains and a tribute to Australia's poets who immortalised so much of our land. The Girl from Snowy River combines passion, heartbreak, history and an enduring love and rich understanding of our land. PRAISE FOR A WALTZ FOR MATILDA '... this absorbing saga abounds in social and historical detail' -- Magpies

Download or read book A Waltz for Matilda The Matilda Saga 1 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song. 'Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me...' In 1894, twelve-year-old Matilda flees the city slums to find her unknown father and his farm. But drought grips the land, and the shearers are on strike. Her father has turned swaggie and he's wanted by the troopers. In front of his terrified daughter, he makes a stand against them, defiant to the last. 'You'll never catch me alive, said he...' Set against a backdrop of bushfire, flood, war and jubilation, this is the story of one girl's journey towards independence. It is also the story of others who had no vote and very little but their dreams. Drawing on the well-known poem by A.B. Paterson and from events rooted in actual history, this is the untold story behind Australia's early years as an emerging nation. PRAISE 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.' -- Magpies Magazine

Download or read book The Road to Gundagai written by Jackie French and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third title in the Matilda saga, which began with A Waltz for Matilda and followed with The Girl from Snowy River. A true cross-over, that becomes a terrific holiday read for our literary adult market. A page-turning, heart-warming family saga set in the Snowy Mountains during the Depression in the 1930s. Blue Laurence has escaped the prison of her aunt's mansion to join the Magnifico Family Circus, a travelling troupe that brings glamour and laughter to country towns gripped by the Depression. Blue hides her crippled legs and scars behind the sparkle of a mermaid's costume; but she's not the only member of the circus hiding a dark secret. The unquenchable Madame Zlosky creates as well as foresees futures. The bearded lady is a young man with laughing eyes. A headless skeleton dangles in the House of Horrors. And somewhere a murderer is waiting ... to strike again. This third book in the Waltz for Matilda saga is set in 1932, at the height of the Depression. Miss Matilda is still running Drinkwater Station, but has put aside her own tragedy to help those suffering in tough economic times and Joey, from the Girl from Snowy River, uses his new medical skills to solve a mystery. Praise for A Waltz for Matilda: 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.' -- Magpies Magazine Praise for The Girl from Snowy River: '... when I was 11 or 12, I would have read and reread it until it fell to bits. It has everything: horses, poems, ghosts, heroism, war, the bush and a love story.' -- Saturday Age 'this is a genuine gem that is impossible to put down and must be swallowed whole in one sitting.' -- Newcastle Herald

Download or read book To Love a Sunburnt Country written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In war-torn Malaya, Nancy dreams of Australia - and a young man called Michael. The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at fourteen to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now sixteen, Nancy's family has sent her to Malaya to bring home her sister-in-law Moira and baby nephew Gavin. Yet despite the threat of Japanese invasion, Moira resists, wanting to stay near her husband Ben. But not even Nancy of the Overflow can stop the fall of Singapore and the capture of so many Australian troops. When their ship is bombed, Nancy, Moira and Gavin are reported missing. Back home at Gibbers Creek, Michael refuses to believe the girl he loves has died. As Darwin, Broome and even Sydney are bombed, Australians must fight to save their country. But as Michael and the families of Gibbers Creek discover, there are many ways to love your country, and many ways to fight for it. From one of Australia's most-admired storytellers comes a gripping and unforgettable novel based on true events and little-known people. This is a story about ultimate survival and the deepest kinds of love. PRAISE 'A book about a love of country that is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and hard to put down.' -- Adelaide Advertiser, 4 stars

Download or read book The Last Dingo Summer The Matilda Saga 8 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-12-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A MUST FOR YOUR SUMMER READING LIST' -- Better Reading A body has been found in the burned-out wreckage of the church at Gibber's Creek -- with older skeletons lying beneath it. The corpse is identified as that of Ignatius Mervyn, the man who attempted to kill Jed Kelly and her unborn child. Newcomer Fish Johnstone is drawn into the murder investigation, convinced that the local police are on the wrong track with their enquiries. But as she digs beneath the warm and welcoming surface of the Gibber's Creek community, more secrets emerge. And Fish must also face her own mystery -- the sudden appearance and then disappearance of her father, a Vietnamese refugee she never knew. Set during the Indigenous rights and 'boat people' controversies of the late 1970s, this haunting story shows how love and kindness can create the courage to face the past. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' -- Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with on a warm spring night' -- New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' -- ReadPlus

Download or read book Too Many Pears written by Jackie French and published by Star Bright Books. This book was released on 2004-10 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pamela the cow loves pears so much that no one else ever has a chance to eat any.

Download or read book The Night They Stormed Eureka written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A story about dreams, gold, rebellion ... and an unlikely friendship across time It's 1854, and the Ballarat goldfields are a place of dreams and rebellion as Sam, a homeless teenager, is called back to the past to join the Puddlehams, who run 'the best little cook shop on the diggings'. The Puddlehams dream of buying a hotel with velvet seats, while others dream of freedom from the British crown, away from the rule of wealthy landowners and corrupt officials. As the summer days get hotter, and the miners' protests are ignored with catastrophic results, Sam experiences first-hand the power of a united stand which will change her life forever. PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH 'Jackie French is excellent at telling history in an exciting way for children' -- Burke's Backyard

Download or read book A Bush Christening written by Troy Dann and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Action Dann tells his best friend Oakie about the young boy who hides in a log to avoid being christened. What happens next is hilarious!

Download or read book The Last Continent written by Terry Pratchett and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-11-21 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Anything you do in the past changes the future. The tiniest little actions have huge consequences. You might tread on an ant now and it might entirely prevent someone from being born in the future.' Rincewind, inept wizard and reluctant hero, has found himself magically stranded on the Discworld's last continent. It's hot. It's dry. There was this thing once called The Wet, which no one believes in any more. Practically everything that's not poisonous is venomous. But it's the best bloody place in the world, all right? And in a few days, it will die. The only thing standing between the last continent and wind-blown doom is Rincewind, and he can't even spell wizard. Still . . . no worries, eh? 'A minor masterpiece. I laughed so much I fell from my armchair' Time Out 'A master storyteller' A. S. Byatt The Last Continent is the sixth book in the Wizards series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

Download or read book Clancy of the Overflow The Matilda Saga 9 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Australia's best-loved storyteller comes the final book in the bestselling Matilda Saga This is a love song to our nation, told in a single sweeping story Jed Kelly has finally persuaded her great aunt Nancy to tell the story of her grandparents. The tale that unfolds is one of Australia's greatest romances - that of Clancy of the Overflow, who gave up everything for Rose, the woman he adored, and yet still gained all he'd lost and more. But Nancy's story is not the history that Jed expects. More tales lurk behind the folklore that surrounds Clancy - the stories of the women hidden in Australia's long history, who forged a nation and whose voices need to be heard. It is also a story of many kinds of love. Clancy's growing passion for the bush, immortalised in Paterson's poem, which speaks to him in the ripple of the river and the song of the stars, and Nancy's need to pass on her deep understanding of her country. But perhaps the most moving love story of all is the one that never happened, between Matilda O'Halloran and Clancy of the Overflow. And as Jed brings all of these stories to life in her book, Matilda and Clancy will once again waltz beside the river and the forgotten will be given a new voice. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' -- Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with' -- New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' -- ReadPlus

Download or read book The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses written by Andrew Barton Paterson and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Ghost by the Billabong written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fifth title in the sweeping Matilda Saga Hippies wear beads, demonstrators march against the Vietnam War, and the world waits to see the first human steps on the moon's surface. But at Gibbers Creek, Jed Kelly sees ghosts, from the past and future, at the Drinkwater billabong where long ago the swaggie leaped to his defiant death. But is seventeen-year-old Jed a con artist or a survivor? When she turns up at Drinkwater Station claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Matilda Thompson's dying husband, Jed clearly has secrets. As does a veteran called Nicholas, who was badly wounded in the Vietnam War and now must try to create a life he truly wants to live, despite the ghosts that haunt him too. Set during the turbulence of the late 1960s, this was a time when brilliant and little-known endeavours saw Australia play a vital role in Neil Armstrong's 'one giant leap for mankind' on that first unforgettable moon walk. The fifth title in the highly acclaimed Matilda Saga, The Ghost by the Billabong is a story of deep conflicts and enduring passions - for other people, for the land, and for the future of humanity. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' - Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with on a warm spring night' - New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' - ReadPlus

Download or read book Pennies for Hitler written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'HISTORICAL FICTION AT ITS BEST' -- Bookseller & Publisher It's 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils' heads to see which of them have the most 'Aryan'- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. Hatred is contagious, but Georg finds that kindness can be, too. A companion piece to the best-selling Hitler's Daughter, this is a story of war-torn Europe during WWII, as seen through the eyes of a young German boy Georg, who loses his family and must forget his past and who he is in order to survive. MORE PRAISE FOR PENNIES FOR HITLER 'Jackie French's research and subsequent feeling for the era is superb the descriptions of wartime Australia alone are fascinating. This is historical fiction at is best and thoroughly recommended for upper primary children and beyond.' -- Bookseller & Publisher, 5 Star Review 'From its dramatic opening sequence to its one word conclusion 300 pages later, this is an absorbing story rich with details of everyday life' -- Canberra Times 'This striking fiction for school age readers gives an unflinching view of war and a close-up human perspective on asylum seekers.' -- Saturday Age

Download or read book A Rose for the Anzac Boys written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'War to end all Wars', as seen through the eyes of three young women War is being fought on a horrific scale in the trenches of France, but it might as well be a world away from sixteen-year-old New Zealander Midge Macpherson, at school in England learning to be a young lady. But the war is coming closer: Midge's brothers are in the army, and her twin, Tim, is listed as 'missing' in the devastating defeat of the Anzac forces at Gallipoli . Desperate to do their bit - and avoid the boredom of school and the restrictions of Society - Midge and her friends Ethel and Anne start a canteen in France, caring for the endless flow of wounded soldiers returning from the front. Midge, recruited by the over-stretched ambulance service, is thrust into carnage and scenes of courage she could never have imagined. And when the war is over, all three girls - and their Anzac boys - discover that even going 'home' can be both strange and wonderful. Exhaustively researched but written with the lightest of touches, this is Jackie French at her very best. AWARDS Shortlisted - 2009 ABIA Awards Honour Book - 2009 CBCA Book of the Year Awards (Younger Readers) PRAISE 'Highly recommended for teenage to adult readers' - Readings 'A book of many voices. Poignant, graphic and compulsive fiction about women who volunteered during WWI' - Sunday Age 'Beautifully written. An important story. The use of a sixteen year old protagonist will make the story more real and more confronting for teen readers' - Aussie Reviews 'A well-researched story about the invaluable support women provided during the war. Recommended for secondary school-aged children' - Australian Bookseller and Publisher '... rousing stuff, and it hasn't been watered down. French doesn't shy away from the nightmarish conditions of trench warfare. Highly readable, scrupulous in its history ... an ideal text for schools' - Sydney Morning Herald '... entertaining and uplifting' - Sun-Guardian Blacktown 'This is a moving story about the love, kindness and humanity of the people involved in the bloodshed and carnage of World War I' - Launceston Examiner 'Jackie has woven her usual magic with her deft light touch and humour in this gripping story' - Toowoomba Chronicle 'A warm tribute to extraordinary women in extraordinary times. We must remember them' - Woman's Day 'Younger readers will enjoy this story about the soldiers of World War I and the volunteers who supported them' - Brisbane News 'Comprehensively researched and beautifully written' - South Coast Register

Download or read book Miss Lily s Lovely Ladies Miss Lily 1 written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY IS EQUAL PARTS DOWNTOWN ABBEY AND WARTIME ACTION , WITH ENOUGH ROMANCE AND INTRIGUE TO MAKE IT 100% NOT- PUT- DOWN-ABLE. Australian Woman's Weekly A tale of espionage, love and passionate heroism. Inspired by true events, this is the story of how society's 'lovely ladies' won a war. Each year at secluded Shillings Hall, in the snow-crisped English countryside, the mysterious Miss Lily draws around her young women selected from Europe's royal and most influential families. Her girls are taught how to captivate a man - and find a potential husband - at a dinner, in a salon, or at a grouse shoot, and in ways that would surprise outsiders. For in 1914, persuading and charming men is the only true power a woman has. Sophie Higgs is the daughter of Australia's king of corned beef and the only 'colonial' brought to Shillings Hall. Of all Miss Lily's lovely ladies, however, she is also the only one who suspects Miss Lily's true purpose. As the chaos of war spreads, women across Europe shrug off etiquette. The lovely ladies and their less privileged sisters become the unacknowledged backbone of the war, creating hospitals, canteens and transport systems where bungling officials fail to cope. And when tens of thousands can die in a single day's battle, Sophie must use the skills Miss Lily taught her to prevent war's most devastating weapon yet. But is Miss Lily heroine or traitor? And who, exactly, is she?

Download or read book The Meadow Girls written by Sheila Everett and published by Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.. This book was released on 2020-04-02 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously published as The Watercress Girls A warm-hearted and nostalgic family saga from the bestselling author of THE WINTER BABY and THE NURSEMAID'S SECRET. Suffolk, 1914 Twelve-year-old Mattie and her little sister Evie lead an idyllic life in the countryside, exploring the meadows and picking watercress in the streams. But little do they know that this perfect childhood won't last. With the onset of World War I, the country is thrown into turmoil . . . As the years pass, the girls go on to live very different lives. Mattie travels to Canada and America, whilst Evie remains in England. More than fifty years later, through marriages, deaths, births, war, heartbreak and distance, will these sisters finally be reunited to have their time in the meadows again? 'This charming, drama-filled novel certainly packs in all the warmth, wisdom and heartfelt emotions that were the trademarks of Sheila's writing.' My Weekly 'This gently uplifting story is a saga to savour . . . this charming, drama-filled novel certainly packs in all the warmth, wisdom and heartfelt emotions that were the trademarks of her writing . . . a delicious and wonderfully poignant read for long summer evenings.' Lancashire Evening Post - - - Praise for Sheila Newberry: 'So gloriously nostalgic . . . a perfect example of her talent.' Maureen Lee, bestselling author of The Seven Streets of Liverpool 'Like having dinner with your mother in her warm and cosy kitchen.' Diane Allen, bestselling author of For the Sake of Her Family

Download or read book If Blood Should Stain the Wattle written by Jackie French and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s 1972, and across Australia the catchcry is ‘It’s time’. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for a new, idealistic Labor government. In Gibber's Creek, it's time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. And for Scarlett O'Hara, it's time to dream that one day she becomes a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. It's also time for matriarch Matilda Thompson to reflect on the life that took her from the slums of Grinder's Alley to the events that began a nation at a billabong in 1894. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary ideals of a better world, but as the ideals drifted from disaster to the Dismissal there were deep conflicts about what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the bestselling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that period into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.