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Jackie French

    November 29, 1953

    Jackie is a celebrated author, recognized for her versatile writing that spans picture books, history, fantasy, ecology, and science fiction, alongside her beloved historical fiction. Her narratives often explore ecological themes and weave in elements of fantasy, pushing the boundaries of children's storytelling. As a former Australian Children's Laureate, she championed the philosophy of sharing stories, encouraging young readers to engage in their own creative writing. Her work is cherished by readers and critics alike for its accessibility and ability to captivate children of all ages.

    Jackie French
    Goodbye, Mr Hitler
    The Lily in the Snow (Miss Lily, #3)
    Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies (Miss Lily, #1)
    The Angel of Waterloo
    Fair Dinkum Histories
    Diary of a wombat
    • 10th. Anniversary Edition: Find out how one wombat - between scratching, sleeping and eating - manages to fit the difficult job of training humans into her busy schedule.

      Diary of a wombat
      4.5
    • Fair Dinkum Histories

      Rotters and Squatters

      • 176 pages
      • 7 hours of reading

      Rotters and Squatters continues the warts-and-all story of Australia from 1820 to 1850. This period saw new colonies founded and squatters spreading into new areas and taking the best land. Clashes with the Indigenous population were inevitable and often brutal. As the supply of convict labour dried up, free settlers began arriving and the demand for self-government grew.

      Fair Dinkum Histories
      5.0
    • The Angel of Waterloo

      • 432 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      A powerful novel from master storyteller Jackie French The soldiers she saved called her the Angel of Waterloo. The husband she loved and lost called her Hen. The patients she treated in secret called her Auntie Love. She was Henrietta Bartlett, a surgeon's daughter, a survivor of the Napoleonic Wars. But now the battlefield is just a blood-soaked memory, and Hen dreams of peace, a home, and a society that allows women to practise medicine. On the other side of the world, the newly founded colony of New South Wales seems a paradise. But Europe's wars cast long shadows ... From bestselling author Jackie French comes the story of one woman's journey from the hell of Waterloo to colonial Australia, where she can forge her own dreams in a land of many nations. PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH 'a master storyteller ... [she] gives women a rich, strong, and brutally honest voice' - Better Reading 'Heartwarming, heartbreaking and hard to put down' - Australian Women's Weekly on If Blood Should Stain the Wattle

      The Angel of Waterloo
      4.0
    • 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?

      Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies (Miss Lily, #1)
      4.3
    • The world is at war, and women are working, often behind the scenes, in areas from nursing to espionage. And despite their many successes, these are the women the men don't see. Unimaginable danger creeps ever closer to Miss Lily and her loved ones . . . Amid the decadence and instability of Berlin in the 1920s, a band of women must unite to save all that is precious to them. With her dangerous past behind her, Australian heiress Sophie Higgs lives in quiet comfort as the Countess of Shillings, until Hannelore, Princess of Arneburg, charms the Prince of Wales. He orders Sophie, Nigel - and Miss Lily - to investigate the mysterious politician Hannelore believes is the only man who can save Europe from another devastating war. His name is Adolf Hitler. As unimaginable peril threatens to destroy countries and tear families apart, Sophie must face Goering's Brownshirt Nazi thugs, blackmail, and the many possible faces of love. And then the man she once adored and thought was lost reappears, and Sophie will be confronted by the girl intent on killing the mother who betrayed her family in the war: Miss Lily. The third book in the Miss Lily series, The Lily in the Snow is a story filled with secrets that also explores the strength of friendship and the changing face of women in this new Europe.

      The Lily in the Snow (Miss Lily, #3)
      4.2
    • Goodbye, Mr Hitler

      • 208 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      Third title following on from the award-winning and best-selling HITLER'S DAUGHTER and PENNIES FOR HITLER. Ages: 10 years + Hitler killed forty-four million people. Johan does not know forty-four million people. But this is his story, and Frau Timmins', and the story of the strange girl now known as 'Helga'. This is the story of how they survived the death camps, the vast wilderness of World War Two refugees and eventually found happiness in Australia. This searing sequel to Heide's tale in Hitler's Daughter and Georg's in Pennies for Hitler, Goodbye Mr Hitler shows us that evil must be faced and fought. But once you've won, the hardest and most necessary battle is to understand and forgive - and learn how to love and live. Ages: 10 years+

      Goodbye, Mr Hitler
      4.2
    • Lilies, Lies and Love (Miss Lily, #4)

      • 336 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      The year is 1936 and the new King Edward VIII wishes to marry American divorcee, and suspected German agent, Wallis Simpson. Top-secret documents that the king must read and sign are being neglected for weeks, and some are even turning up in Berlin. And as Germany grows its military might with many thousands of new fighter planes every year, Britain and its empire are under increasing threat. Can Miss Lily's most successful protege, Sophie Vaile, the Countess of Shillings, seduce the new king, prevent his marriage to Wallis Simpson, and turn him from fascism? And if a man can sacrifice his life for his country, should a woman hesitate to sacrifice her honour? Based on new correspondence found in German archives, Lilies, Love and Lies is a work of fiction.Or is it?

      Lilies, Lies and Love (Miss Lily, #4)
      3.5
    • Angus & Robertson an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

      Pennies For Hitler
      4.2
    • The Tinytoreum takes you to the world of Shaggy Gully where bush-genius George Gunna Goanna began his career as an inventor. Using just his imagination and whatever bits and pieces he could find, Gunna created many fabulous things for his friends and family. This book showcases just a few of them. This is the story that Jackie French and Bruce Whatley came up with when we invited them to weave a tale around these smaller-than-life-size objects from the Museums collection. The result is a journey of the imagination that brings these little things to life in a surprising, funny and extremely inventive way.

      The Tinytoreum
      3.5
    • Happy Birthday Wombat

      • 32 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      Bestselling Mothball is back - with birthday cake! (Carrot, of course.)She eats, she sleeps, she scratches. But today it's Mothball's birthday and it's time to celebrate!Created by author Jackie French and illustrator Bruce Whatley, Happy Birthday Wombat is a very funny picture book about enjoying a special day - as seen through the eyes of the world's most famous wombat.PRAISE FOR DIARY OF A WOMBAT AND OTHER BOOKS STARRING MOTHBALL'French and Whatley have conjured an affectionate, believable wombat self-portrait' - The New York Times Book Review'I absolutely love the tone of Mothball's diary entries - the dry brevity and classic wombat behaviour that's made this gorgeous creature an Aussie literary treasure. Whatley's divinely funny illustrations yet again make for an all-rounder of a book that will loosen smiles on readers of any age' - Kids' Book Review

      Happy Birthday Wombat
      4.0