She finally makes her way to her father’s farm-but soon, trouble crops up there again with the local large landowner. As a 12-year-old girl pretending to be 14 to pass scrutiny, there are many things she isn’t sure of yet. Then, when her mother dies, she has no choice-she must go out to where her father owns a fabled farm, one she never remembers seeing, but that she is assured is there. Matilda’s story opens with her work in a jam factory in the late 1800s in Australia-burned, calloused fingers from trying to make ends meet, a mother who is slowly wasting away, and only one friend in her desolate world. It was a good memory-and the book proved to be just as good the second time around as the first. As soon as I started it, the wings of memory took me back to the flashing needle and yarn, and the scent of roasting veggies. The girl I was helping went ahead of me at one stage, but I found the story gripping, and recently when I thought about it again, I decided to go back and listen to the whole thing this time. The one I remember most of the different stories we listened to together was A Waltz for Matilda. I have many fond memories of sitting in the living room together, fingers busy with some crocheting, while we were transported to another land and another time. Just over a year ago, I was working with a disabled girl, and one thing we did together several times was listen to audiobooks her mother had found. Synopsis: When Matilda’s parents die unexpectedly, she must find her own way in the world and figure out how to run her father’s farm in the Australian outback, and make a profit from the only thing she has left of him. PRAISE 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.Major Themes: Australia, Australian History, Historical Fiction, Farming Paterson and from events rooted in actual history, this is the untold story behind Australia's early years as an emerging nation. It is also the story of others who had no vote and very little but their dreams. 'You'll never catch me alive, said he.' Set against a backdrop of bushfire, flood, war and jubilation, this is the story of one girl's journey towards independence. In front of his terrified daughter, he makes a stand against them, defiant to the last. Her father has turned swaggie and he's wanted by the troopers. But drought grips the land, and the shearers are on strike.

'Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.' In 1894, twelve-year-old Matilda flees the city slums to find her unknown father and his farm. The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song.

A Waltz for Matilda by Jackie French