Get Your Free Audiobook
-
If Blood Should Stain the Wattle
- The Matilda Saga, Book 6
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Series: The Matilda Saga Series, Book 6
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Categories: Teen & Young Adult, History & Culture
Non-member price: $39.72
People who bought this also bought...
-
Facing the Flame
- The Matilda Saga, Book 7
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been fires before, but not like this. In 1978, as the hot wind howls and the grass dries, all who live at Gibber's Creek know their land can burn. But when you love your land, you fight for it. For Jed Kelly, an even more menacing danger looms: a man from her past determined to destroy her. Finding herself alone, trapped, and desperate to save her unborn child, Jed's only choice is to flee - into the flames.
-
The Ghost by the Billabong
- The Matilda Saga, Book 5
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 17-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.
-
The Last Dingo Summer
- The Matilda Saga, Book 8
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
To Love a Sunburnt Country
- The Matilda Saga, Book 4
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at 14 to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now 16, 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.
-
The Road to Gundagai
- The Matilda Saga, 3
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
Clancy of the Overflow
- The Matilda Saga, Book 9
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Adored this series, the finale was well done
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-2020
-
Facing the Flame
- The Matilda Saga, Book 7
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been fires before, but not like this. In 1978, as the hot wind howls and the grass dries, all who live at Gibber's Creek know their land can burn. But when you love your land, you fight for it. For Jed Kelly, an even more menacing danger looms: a man from her past determined to destroy her. Finding herself alone, trapped, and desperate to save her unborn child, Jed's only choice is to flee - into the flames.
-
The Ghost by the Billabong
- The Matilda Saga, Book 5
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 17-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.
-
The Last Dingo Summer
- The Matilda Saga, Book 8
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
To Love a Sunburnt Country
- The Matilda Saga, Book 4
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at 14 to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now 16, 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.
-
The Road to Gundagai
- The Matilda Saga, 3
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
Clancy of the Overflow
- The Matilda Saga, Book 9
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Adored this series, the finale was well done
- By Anonymous User on 02-11-2020
-
The Girl from Snowy River
- The Matilda Saga, Book 2
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 16-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?
-
-
Thank You, Edwina
- By Anonymous User on 30-07-2020
-
The Angel of Waterloo
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
Among the best of books
- By Juseyjus on 11-12-2020
-
A Waltz for Matilda
- The Matilda Saga, Book 1
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1894, 12-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....
-
Pennies for Hitler
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Gooooood
- By Anonymous User on 08-04-2021
-
The Shearer's Wife
- By: Fleur McDonald
- Narrated by: Lani John Tupu
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she's assigned to investigate the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him.
-
-
captivating story
- By OLIVIA Jones on 28-03-2021
-
Hitler's Daughter
- By: Jackie French
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bombs were falling and the smoke rising from the concentration camps, but all Hitler's daughter knew was the world of lessons with Fraulein Gelber and the hedgehogs she rescued from the cold. Was it just a story or did Hitler's daughter really exist? And If you were Hitler's daughter, would all the horror that occurred be your fault, too? Do things that happened a long time ago still matter?
-
-
Captivating.
- By MummyMcTavish on 04-05-2018
-
The Lost Children
- By: Shirley Dickson
- Narrated by: Rosie Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1943: Home is no longer safe for eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob. Night after night, wailing bombs and screeching planes skim the rooftops overhead. They cradle each other, shivering in terror, not knowing if they'll live to see dawn. Their mother, Martha, has no choice but to evacuate them to the safety of the countryside. At the train station, Martha bites back tears as she says good-bye to her precious children. Knowing she might never see them again, she gives Jacob a letter, pressing the envelope into his hands and telling him to only read it if they are in danger.
-
-
Tissues needed often
- By birdie on 02-01-2021
-
The Champagne War
- By: Fiona McIntosh
- Narrated by: Katy Sobey
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1914, vigneron Jerome Méa heads off to war, certain he'll be home by Christmas. His new bride Sophie, a fifth-generation champenoise, is determined to ensure the forthcoming vintages will be testament to their love and the power of the people of Épernay, especially its strong women. But as the years drag on, authorities advise that Jerome is missing, considered dead. When poison gas is first used in Belgium by the Germans, British chemist Charles Nash jumps to enlist.
-
-
Excellent
- By Sabra on 23-12-2020
-
Pacific
- By: Judy Nunn
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 25 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic story of love, sacrifice and revenge swept along on the winds of war. Australian actress Samantha Lindsay is thrilled when she scores her first lead movie role in the Hollywood epic Torpedo Junction, playing a character based on World War II heroine 'Mamma Tack'. But as filming begins in Vanuatu, uncanny parallels between history and fiction emerge. Just who was the real Mamma Tack? And what mysterious forces are at play? The answers reveal not only bygone secrets but Sam's own destiny.
-
-
A fascinating saga of parallel lives
- By parko on 04-07-2020
-
Talk of the Town
- Rose Hill, Book 1
- By: Rachael Johns
- Narrated by: Casey Withoos
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lawson Cooper-Jones has two priorities in life - his son, Ned, and the survival of the dairy farm that has been in his family for generations. Despite the best efforts of the town matchmakers and the determined pursuit of local girl Adeline Walsh, Lawson's heart belongs still, and only, to his late wife. But when a flat tyre strands Lawson and Ned in nearby Rose Hill, he's surprised to find a woman living alone in the old general store of the deserted town. Ned immediately forms a bond with the beautiful stranger called Meg.
-
-
Delightful
- By Dorothy Caple on 15-01-2021
-
The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker
- By: Joanna Nell
- Narrated by: Julie Nihill
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the wife of retired ship's doctor Dr Henry Parker, Evelyn is living out her twilight years aboard the Golden Sunset. Every night she dresses for dinner - gown, tiara, runners - and regales her fellow passengers with stories of a glamorous life travelling the world in luxury as well as showing off her superior knowledge of everything from ships' customs to biographical details of her heroine, Florence Nightingale. The crew treat her with deference. And forbearance.
-
-
what a joy!
- By Anonymous User on 17-10-2019
-
The Midnight Rose
- By: Lucinda Riley
- Narrated by: Aysha Kala
- Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the heyday of the British Raj, 11-year-old Anahita, from a noble but impoverished family, forms a lifelong friendship with the headstrong Princess Indira, the privileged daughter of rich Indian royalty. Becoming the princess's official companion, Anahita accompanies her friend to England just before the outbreak of the Great War. There, she meets the young Donald Astbury - reluctant heir to the magnificent, remote Astbury Estate - and his scheming mother.
-
-
Irresistible suspense!
- By Jacqueline Benz on 22-11-2020
Publisher's Summary
It's 1972 in Gibber's Creek, and across the nation, the catchcry is "It's time".
As political ideals drift from disaster to the dismissal, it's also time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. It's time, too, for Matilda Thompson to face her ghosts and the life that took a young girl from the slums of Grinder's Alley to being the formidable matriarch of Gibber's Creek.
During this period of extraordinary social change and idealism, modern Australia would be born. And although the nation would dream of a better world, it would continue to struggle with opposing ideas of exactly what that better world might be.
Jackie French, author of the best-selling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that time into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.
A time that would bear witness to some of the most controversial events in Australian history; and for Matilda, a time that would see her vision made real, without blood spilled upon the wattle.
More from the same
What listeners say about If Blood Should Stain the Wattle
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



25 Best Celebrity Audiobooks
It’s always a pleasant surprise to pick up a familiar story and find an unexpected famous friend in the narrator’s booth.



Best Audiobooks of 2020
We've crunched the numbers, heard from our listeners and gotten expert opinions to round up the best listens of 2020.


