Secret Sparrow, the WWI Battlefield Morse Coder

(Paperback)

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This is the story of women who fought during WW1, but not as nurses or ambulance drivers.

In 1916 sixteen-year-old Jean McLain is working as a Post Office assistant in England. But when she wins a national Morse Code competition, the British army makes a request Jean cannot refuse - to take a secret position as a signaller in France.

If Jean can keep the signals flowing between the soldiers at the Front and at headquarters, Britain might possibly win the war.

But the British army are determined to hide their desperation - they will go on to burn every document that showed how women and girls were working behind the scenes, in the trenches, and even in battles during WWI.

Decades later, and half a world away, an old woman on a motorbike tells the young man she has rescued from a flash flood the story of 'the telegraph girl': the friends she lost, the man who loved her, and the happiness she so surprisingly found again.

Based on true events, this story of adventure, courage and unshakable loyalty restores women and girls to their place in history that the authorities tried to erase.

Author Bio

Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 20142015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016 Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world' was the primary philosophy behind Jackie's two-year term as Laureate. jackiefrench.com facebook.com/authorjackiefrench