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  • The Drover's Wife

  • The Legend of Molly Johnson
  • By: Leah Purcell
  • Narrated by: Leah Purcell
  • Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,711 ratings)

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The Drover's Wife

By: Leah Purcell
Narrated by: Leah Purcell
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Publisher's Summary

Deep in the heart of Australia's high country, along an ancient, hidden track, lives Molly Johnson and her four surviving children, another on the way. Husband Joe is away months at a time droving livestock up north, leaving his family in the bush to fend for itself. Molly's children are her world, and life is hard and precarious with only their dog, Alligator, and a shotgun for protection - but it can be harder when Joe's around. 

At just 12 years of age, Molly's eldest son, Danny, is the true man of the house, determined to see his mother and siblings safe - from raging floodwaters, hunger and intruders, man and reptile. Danny is mature beyond his years, but there are some things no child should see. He knows more than most just what it takes to be a drover's wife. 

One night, under the moon's watch, Molly has a visitor of a different kind - a Black 'story keeper', Yadaka. He's on the run from authorities in the nearby town, and exchanges kindness for shelter. Both know that justice in this nation caught between two worlds can be as brutal as its landscape. But in their short time together, Yadaka shows Molly a secret truth, and the strength to imagine a different path. 

Full of fury and power, Leah Purcell's The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is a brave reimagining of the Henry Lawson short story that has become an Australian classic. Brilliantly plotted, it is a compelling thriller of our pioneering past that confronts head-on issues of today: race, gender, violence and inheritance.

©2021 Leah Purcell (P)2021 Penguin Random House Australia

What listeners say about The Drover's Wife

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too miserable for words

If you want a story that never fails to deliver on rape, violence and all manner of abuse, this is the book for you. I found it utterly miserable from start to finish.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wow! Powerful & Moving

The Drover’s Wife is storytelling at it’s best!

I was struck by how skilfully this story was written and how masterfully it was told!!
It had captured me from the very first line (I love Snow Gums too) and held my interest to the very end.

Leah’s reading was heartfelt and authentic - it was clear which of the many characters was talking and how they were feeling by her different voices -
Basically, she nailed it!

I was mesmerised by her beautiful vivid descriptions of the scenery putting me right there and the emotions this authentically Australian story evoked, were powerful ones!!!

Outstanding all round Leah - and the beauty is I could feel the strength, the pride and the compassion of the story teller :)

Thank you for telling this story

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The best Australian story in years

Heart-warming, tragic and truly Australian. The best Australian story in years. Perfectly narrated. Can't wait for the next one!

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Depicts the hard times even 100 years after settlement

Yet another example of a sad part of our history. Very well written and the performance of Leah couldn’t have been better portraying the different voices. Clever lady all round. I can’t say I enjoyed the story with the amount of violence committed by human beings but as I said, unfortunately that is part of history, and it’s gone on all over the world and still is of course, in Ukraine, at the moment.
Such hard times for women makes me appreciate even more, my life today in Australia where due to women like Louisa, things gradually changed for the better.

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great Australian story

a wonderful fictional insight into the tough life of the white pioneers and the heartbreaking treatment of the traditional owners of our land. loved the use of traditional language and respect given to the hardship experiences of the Indigenous people and women of the times.

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Deadly History

Well performed. Well written. An unveiling of cultural truths in the telling. I look forward to seeing it on the big screen.

On many occasions I caught myself in awe of the author's ability to create vivid word pictures describing characters and Country. I also respect and applaud the natural blending of language.

The narration / narrator is truly gifted in both word and song.

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Wonderful yarn

I loved hearing the different perspectives of this story.
The story was very well delivered by the author.
Great to hear First Nation language delivered well. The yarn helps the listener to understand culture and connection with country.
I do hope Leah writes another great yarn.

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My most favourite book so far.

A truly inspiring story, I didn’t want it to end. Perfectly narrated and highly recommended.

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headline

loved it cant wait for her next novel.
loved the blending of cultures.
the raw honesty and power of a mothers love

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Wonderful

So well written. Loved it and didn’t want it to end. The narration perfect. The description of landscape breathtaking. Recommend this book.

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  • Shawn MacGregor
  • 25-10-2022

Mesmerizing, authentic and perfectly heart-felt!

Even though it's beauty was stark and the love mostly punishing, this tale is engaging, deep and thought-provoking. It's easy to see the real history that inspired the story, and it causes us to examine our views on women's roles, race and love. The author was a very fine voice actor as well... I hope I can find the film to watch, and I hope the author treats us to another novel as fine as The Drover's Wife.

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  • LaRea
  • 09-11-2022

Excellent book

I have over 1000 books in my audible library and this is now one of my top 5. What a great story. I love the characters and the narration was excellent.

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  • Lacie A.
  • 31-08-2022

Great book

Not something I’d normal read but a friend suggested it! It was a great book! Adventure, stories, history, trials and tribulations!

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  • Amber
  • 14-09-2021

possibly the best book I've read.

Leah Purcell has the amazing ability to tell a story in a way that allows the reader to completely be in the shoes of the characters. I finished this book in a day and a half, it was hard to stop reading I hope she writes more

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 20-08-2021

wow

I loved it. evoked strong emotion and at one point tears were just streaming down my cheeks.

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  • Cathryn Harjung
  • 29-09-2023

Spectacular, sweeping saga

I didn't know what to expect when I began listening, but was very quickly drawn into Leah Purcell's engaging narration. She has written a spectacular story, and I shall recommend it to everyone. This is a book I'll remember.

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  • Leslie Vornholt
  • 06-07-2023

Enthralling story

Enthralling story!
I love historical fiction, especially the stories not told in history classes or books
Sad truths that need to be heard so we can learn compassion and do better

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  • Drone Boy
  • 01-07-2023

Riding Him She Was!

The Legend of Molly Johnson is as courageous as it is honest and passionately read. Perhaps Purcell's proclivity to sing dampens the literary and audio qualities of her novel, but these weaknesses are far outweighed by the comedy, pathos, tragedy and romance of her retelling of Lawson's original short story. My one actual criticism concerns how the narrative ultimately reproduces what it seeks to critique by supplanting an essentialist white mythology with an essentialist black mythology that is no less binary in its stereotypes of good and evil. All the baddies tend to be uneducated white men with rotten teeth and homosexual/trans traits, and all the goodies tend to be educated black men with good teeth and heteronormative traits, but i have no doubt Purcell will make up for this in her sequel.

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  • Joni B. Sturtz
  • 28-03-2023

A Beautiful Painting

I so hope you write more novels. You have a gift for storytelling. I was so engrossed throughout the entire book. You painted a beautiful picture and hearing you tell it, made it perfect. I felt like I was there with the characters. Absolutely stunning!

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  • tracy
  • 11-02-2023

Brilliant story and performance by Leah Purcell

Such a great listen. Gripping. I was completely immersed with the characters. Leah’s storytelling is brilliant.

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  • SAgirl
  • 13-11-2021

excellent read

incredible story of heartbreak and tragedy. The 1890s are not that long ago yet the creulity and barbaric behaviour of men was unpresidented.
I guess they are much the same today, Joan suffering at the hands of men.

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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.