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  • To Love a Sunburnt Country

  • The Matilda Saga, Book 4
  • By: Jackie French
  • Narrated by: Edwina Wren
  • Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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To Love a Sunburnt Country

By: Jackie French
Narrated by: Edwina Wren
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Publisher's Summary

In war-torn Malaya, Nancy dreams of Australia - and a young man called Michael.

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. 

Back home at Gibbers Creek, Michael refuses to believe the girl he loves has died. As Darwin, Broome, and even Sydney are bombed, Australians must fight to save their country. But as Michael and the families of Gibbers Creek discover, there are many ways to love your country, and many ways to fight for it. 

From one of Australia's most-admired storytellers comes a gripping and unforgettable novel based on true events and little-known people. This is a story about ultimate survival and the deepest kinds of love. 

"A book about a love of country that is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and hard to put down." (Adelaide Advertiser, four stars)

©2014 Jackie French (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about To Love a Sunburnt Country

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Beautifully written

Couldn’t stop listening.. gut wrenching and heart warming in one. Pride in the survival instinct and strength of all through this time.

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Could not put it down!

Don't expect to get anything else done until you've finished this book - although with audiobooks of course you can! Narration is fantastic, just right.
This was more harrowing than the other books in the series - and for the author apparently - and the horrific things suffered by POWs are hard to hear. As this is youth literature, maybe this is one to read together with a more sensitive child. But, as based on historical accounts, so important to talk about and learn from. Thanks Jackie French - please keep writing!

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Great book

Loved it, such a good story
Kept me interested the whole way through the audio book.

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NO, I won't forgive you either!!!

Besides this smacking of A Town Like Alice, even to a thin line between Nancy and Mrs Boong, why on earth would you keep the poor bloody kid alive till the very end, then blow him up. Unforgivable. Worse than the Japs even. Do you know how much I bawled? So help me, if you weren't such a bloody great writer I'd never listen to another of your books ever again.

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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.