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  • Blue Ribbons, Bitter Bread

  • Joice Loch - Australia's most heroic woman
  • By: Susanna de Vries
  • Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
  • Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

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Blue Ribbons, Bitter Bread

By: Susanna de Vries
Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
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Publisher's Summary

The unforgettable story of how an Australian bush girl saved the lives of 1,000 Polish and Jewish children in a daring escape from the Nazis. 

Joice Loch was an extraordinary Australian. She had the inspired courage that saved many hundreds of Jews and Poles in World War II, the compassion that made her a self-trained doctor to tens of thousands of refugees, the incredible grit that took her close to death in several theatres of war and the dedication to truth and justice that shone forth in her own books and a lifetime of astonishing heroism. 

Born in a cyclone in 1887 on a Queensland sugar plantation, she grew up in grinding poverty in Gippsland and emerged from years of unpaid drudgery by writing a children's book and freelance journalism. 

In 1918 she married Sydney Loch, author of a banned book on Gallipoli. After a dangerous time in Dublin during the Troubles, they escaped from possible IRA vengeance to work with the Quakers in Poland. There they rescued countless dispossessed people from disease and starvation and risked death themselves. 

In 1922 Joice and Sydney went to Greece to aid the 1,500,000 refugees fleeing Turkish persecution. Greece was to become their home. They lived in an ancient tower by the sea in the shadows of Athos, the Holy Mountain, and worked selflessly for decades to save victims of war, famine and disease. 

During World War II, Joice was an agent for the Allies in Eastern Europe and pulled off a spectacular escape to snatch over a thousand Jews and Poles from death just before the Nazis invaded Bucharest, escorting them via Constantinople to Palestine. By the time she died in 1982, Joice had written 10 books and saved many thousands of lives and was one of the world's most decorated women. At her funeral the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Oxford named her 'one of the most significant women of the 20th century'. 

©2000 Susanna de Vries (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

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Brilliant listen on an amazing life

I so enjoyed Deirdre Rubenstein’s narration of the life and heroic feats of Joice Loch. And Susanna de Vries wonderful weaving together of Joice’s life kept me listening long after I should have gone to bed! I feel proud and honoured to be a fellow Australian. Joice Loch was indeed an extraordinary woman. Loved this book.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.