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Nimblefoot

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Nimblefoot

By: Robert Drewe
Narrated by: Nikos Andronicos
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About this listen

 At the age of ten, and just short of four feet tall, a boy from Ballarat named Johnny Day became Australia's first international sporting hero. Against adult competition he wooed crowds across continents as the World Champion in pedestrianism, the sporting craze of the day.

A few years later, in 1870, he won the Melbourne Cup on a horse aptly called Nimblefoot, this time impressing British royalty and Melbourne's high society. And then, still aged only fourteen, this already-famous athlete and jockey disappeared without a trace.

Robert Drewe picks up where history leaves off, re-imagining Johnny's life following his great Cup win. Celebrations that night land him in the company of Prince Alfred himself and some key Melbourne identities. But when Johnny becomes a reluctant witness to two murders in the town's most notorious brothel, he finds himself on the run again - this time from the law itself.

In fear of his life he heads west, assuming different identities to outsmart his pursuers. Yet all the while Johnny fears his luck will soon run out.

Johnny Day is a character that couldn't be invented, but in the masterful re-imagining of his life Robert Drewe brings us an adventure story, a coming-of-age classic, a man-hunt, a thriller - but most of all, a rollicking good yarn. And in doing so, he lays claim to Johnny Day's rightful place in Australia's illustrious sporting history. Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Sports Fiction Royalty
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I had not read a book by Robert Drewe for years, and was delighted to find this one on Audible, read well by Nikos Andronicos. Johnny Day is a remarkable character - it is a great shame that he has been forgotten, up till now. Drewe has placed him well in his time, and told his story well, of becoming Australia's first international sporting champion - as a pedestrian! Then winning the Melbourne Cup, and then vanishing. In Drewe's convincing fictional extension, Day turns up in WA, about which Drewe is highly qualified to write. The result makes excellent reading, both for the information imparted about the places and period of the action, and for the imaginativeness of the plot and character-building. I kept wondering if a movie could be made, based on the book - you would need a very able child actor for a start.

Highly readable story, part history, part fiction.

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A well written, creative and historic story of an unsung Australian hero come fugitive. I very much enjoyed learning of Johnny Day. It seems he deserved a worthy book on his curious and extraordinary life and Robert Drewe has given him just that.

Curious & Extraordinary!

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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.