The final and thrilling conclusion to the popular and bestselling Miss Lily series A mysterious telegram that says, 'Lily needs you' arrives just before a plane from war-ravaged England lands in one of Sophie Greenman's paddocks.Sophie, Countess of Shillings, has been living a quiet life on her property in Australia, until love and loyalty draw her back to England where she once trained to become one of Miss Lily's 'Lovely Ladies'. Now, in 1942, Shillings Hall trains women to become espionage agents. Sophie's mission? To seek out disaffected German officers prepared to kill Hitler. Across Europe women like Sophie, or Parisian couturier Violette, or Hannelore, German Prinzessin and spy, must determine where their deepest loyalty lies. And as Europe slowly disintegrates, Miss Lily must also decide her final fate.Based on real-life events, this is the story of the women who wielded immense, yet secret, power....

Six mysterious passengers and seven dark secrets. Who can be trusted? It's a dark and dangerous journey for the Cobb and Co night mail coach, but when his coach-driver father is injured, young Jem Donovan must take the reins.Surely a boy like Jem can't handle a team of four horses and guide the coach on a rough bush track through fog and untold dangers? But there are six passengers on the coach tonight, each with a secret. And if Jem can't get them all to their destination by morning, the seventh secret could be deadly ...

Renowned for her historical fiction titles, Jackie French now tells the story of the brilliant and famous evacuation of Gallipoli. Sixteen-year-old Nipper and his Gallipoli mates Lanky, Spud, Bluey and Wallaby Joe are starving, freezing and ill-equipped. By November 1915 they know that that there is more to winning a war than courage. The Gallipoli campaign has been lost. Nipper has played cricket with the Turks in the opposing dugout, dodged rocket fire and rescued desperate and drowning men when the blizzard snow melted. He is one of the few trusted with the secret kept from even most of the officers: how an entire army will vanish from the Peninsula over three impeccably planned nights. Based on first-hand accounts of those extraordinary last weeks of the Gallipoli campaign, this is the fascinating 'lost story' of how 150,000 men – and their horses and equipment – were secretly moved to waiting ships without a single...

A SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURE FROM AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE Twelve-year-old Ben Huntsmore is the son of a shipowner, an only child who loves the farming life on his family's estate, Badger's Hill.But when Ben's father loses their ancestral home to pay a gambling debt, Ben reluctantly joins his father in a desperate venture to win it back, capturing enemy trading ships off the west Australian coast.While at sea, Ben must face not just the giant waves of the Southern Ocean but also Dutch guns, as well as unexpected treachery as he realises that his almost-unknown father will sacrifice even his son to make his fortune. Only the unexpected friendships of the mysterious convict Higgins and the young Indigenous sailor Guwara will help Ben survive, as well as show him the true meaning of loyalty and riches.From renowned children's author Jackie French comes a book filled with swashbuckling adventures that uncovers Australia's hidden...

The third book in the best-selling Jackie French historical series that places girls centre stage. Ming Qong is convinced that girls have changed history throughout the world.She's faced danger and adventure when Herstory sent her to the past to witness girls' bravery in the incredible feats left out of 'histories'. Now Ming asks Herstory for another time-travelling quest – this time, one that is less confronting.Ming finds herself in relative luxury, heading to an unknown destination on a ship carrying royal Saxon sheep, travelling with the girls who care for them.What do female shepherds have to do with history? And is it even possible for sheep to be royal?As Ming knows only too well, change is never easy, so how can one girl – and a sheep – change the world?From one of Australia's favourite authors comes an inspiring series for all the young people who will, one day, change the...

Sea levels have risen, the winds are wild, and the sun is so hot that you can't go out during the day. So Possum and Mopoke live like wombats, sleeping during the day and venturing out at night. They're lucky they're in the Valley, where it's safe and protected, but they know there's a world outside – the Collectors go there, scavenging for metal and plant species. And there are stories. When they hear one about mysterious music coming from an island with a gleaming tower, they decide to go in search of it, with Desert Wind, an old Collector, as their guide... First published in 1993, The Music from the Sea is the first book in internationally bestselling and much loved author Jackie French's Children of the Valley series, a five-part dystopian series written long before the trend for dystopian children's and young adult fiction emerged – and climate change was a global concern. According to her website, 'Jackie French AM is an Australian author,...

With Desert Wind as their guide, Possum and Mopoke have once again left the Valley to brave the world outside, where it's harsh, dry and so hot you can't go out during the day. It was supposed to be a short journey, following the creek up to the salt pans, but just like all their others, that's not how it turns out. This time, they hear a strange, eerie noise, like nothing they've heard before. Is it a machine? An animal? Or something else? Is it dangerous?The Tribe Who Sang to the Trees is the final book in internationally bestselling and much loved author Jackie French's Children of the Valley series, a five-part dystopian series set many years from now and presciently written long before the trend for dystopian children's and young adult fiction emerged – or climate change was a global concern.According to her website, 'Jackie French AM is an Australian author, historian, ecologist and honorary wombat (part time), 2014–2015 Australian...

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a truly extraordinary woman. And after 2000 years, the story of her brave and remarkable life continues to inspire and enthrall us, as that young woman from Nazareth wasnever 'just a girl'. In 72 AD, as the Roman army pillages Judea and destroys their village, fourteen-year-old Judith hidesher younger sister, her great-grandmother Rabba, a Roman slave called Caius and an unwilling goat in a cave used to store food. Judith's skills will save them as wolves - and humans - threaten the group during that long, icy winter. There are feasts to enjoy as they listen to Rabba tell stories of her youth; of her wealthy marriage in Jerusalem and her life in Nazareth as a child.But there is one story Rabba will not tell, no matter how much they coax her. It is the story of Maryiam, her beloved friend who faced the scandal and shame of an unwed pregnancy and the anguish of watching the crucifixion.And it is Maryiam's example...

From bestselling author Jackie French comes a book about the secrets we carry, those that we unearth - and those that are too dangerous to tell. The once impoverished medical student Agnes Glock is now the fabulously wealthy Mrs Mulberry. Her estate in the mountains is magnificent, a haven for those too ravaged by the Great War to cope with the society that first condemned them to battle and which now shuns them.The War has, however, stolen Agnes's chance to graduate as a doctor, as well as the fiance she adored. Her husband, Douglas Mulberry, remains shellshocked and unable to speak. Their scandalous marriage is a farce, an act of kindness to keep Douglas's fortune from his uncle's grasp. A chance visit to a circus brings about a mystery in the form of a fairylike child whose guardians claim was brought up by dingoes. The child cannot speak and seems deformed. But Agnes is inexplicably drawn to her and believes she can be...

It's 1932, the height of the Depression, and Butter O'Bryan and his friends have another mystery to solve. The Very Small Castle is home to Butter O'Bryan, his father, three aunts, friends Gil, Olive and Tish, and their dog, Woofer.But now there's also a monster at the castle!When glamorous film actress Delilah Divine vanishes in the middle of filming on Howlers Beach, the police suspect her co-star, the war-hero actor behind the movie's villainous monster ... But soon even more strange disappearances leave the police baffled. It's up to Butter to solve the mystery of the vanishing film star, but can he crack it before it's too late?

'HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL READERS'— ReadPlus on Barney and the Secret of the Whales The whisper in the darkness is: rebellion! (Or: death or liberty!) Frog is an orphan, a pickpocket, starving on the streets of Parramatta in 1804. But when the tall, commanding Irish rebel Mr Cunningham talks of freedom from tyranny and the lash, Frog creeps out to join the rebels, the 10,000 convicts who will take over the colony and proclaim the Republic of New Ireland. Will farmers like Barney and Elsie Bean join the battle against the corrupt New South Wales Corps? For the fate of the colony — and Australia — will be decided at Castle Hill. Based on eyewitness accounts, this fifth title in The Secret Histories series uncovers the secrets that the colonial government hid for over 200 years. PRAISE FOR THE SECRET...

From bestselling author Jackie French comes a compelling story of murder, mystery, and mutiny on the high seas - and a love so intense it can overcome two different cultures. You never know what the sea will give you ... or what it will take back.When Mair McCrae follows her island tradition and hunts for a husband cast up on the beach, she has no notion that the naked, half-drowned man she rescues is not just Captain Michael Dawson, heir to a major shipping firm, but that he's obsessed by a 'ghost ship' carrying golden cargo. On Big Henry Island women make the decisions and knit the patterns that mark a man as their own. But Big Henry is also a volcano, and threatening to erupt. Yet when Mair agrees to accompany Michael home, she finds that the Australian comfort he promised has a danger just as real: a social system that tries to keep women confined to small roles at the edges of men's lives. And as Michael hunts for the...

The fourth book in the best-selling Jackie French historical series that places girls centre stage. Ming Qong is convinced that girls have changed the world throughout history.History's sister, the mysterious Herstory, believes that the more you know about the past, the better you can understand the future. And so she now sends Ming to work as a maid in an isolated English mansion to see a girl change the world in 1829.But which girl? The young mistress of the house is lying in bed, recovering from the measles. Abandoned by her aristocratic mother and family, she may never walk – or even read and write – again. Ming becomes friends with another scullery maid, Hepzibah, who is desperately teaching herself to read and longs to free slaves, as she and her parents had been. But what hope has a scullery maid?From one of Australia's favourite writers comes an inspiring series for all the young people who will, one...

A FRESH REINTERPRETATION OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM BY THE AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN'S LAUREATE His name is Fairy Peaseblossom, but he'd rather be known as Pete. Pete prefers pizza to sugar plums — and wants to choose his own life too. But how can he when his role is to serve the fairy queen, Titania? This is Shakespeare's delightful comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream reinterpreted with an army of Amazons, a sea serpent and a selkie called Gaela, who luckily for Pete makes the best pizza in the world. It is also a story of the intrigues of the fairy court, of vampire plots to dominate the world and impossible loves that might just come true. Not with enchantment, but when two hearts thread together making a magic of their own. PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH'S SHAKESPEARE SERIES'Jackie French enriches Shakespeare's plot with well-rounded...

Jackie French's critically acclaimed and best-selling ANIMAL STARS series looks at history through the eyes of an animal. Ages: 9-13 All of Australia's dingoes may be descended from one south-east Asian 'rubbish dog' who arrived here over 5,000 years ago. this is a story about the first dingo. It is also the story of Loa, who heads off across the sea in his canoe when the girl he loves marries another. He takes only his spears and a 'rubbish dog', one of the scavengers from around the camp to eat if he gets hungry, or to throw to threatening sharks or crocodiles. But when a storm blows boy and dog out to sea, both must learn to survive in a strange new world as partners - and even as friends. From renowned author Jackie French comes a story about survival in our earliest times. Praise for tHE HORSE WHO BIt A BUSHRANGER: 'this is a gripping, moving story that is also wonderfully evocative of an era when survival meant growing, creating or killing everything you needed. Kids will...