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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 (9 ratings)

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The Drover's Wife

By: Leah Purcell
Narrated by: Leah Purcell
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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
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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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3 people found this helpful

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didn't work for me

I'm so sorry that this didn't work for me because I really like the writer as an actress. I see how some people might really like the story but the style and reading just doesn't come through for me.

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