Nanberry: Black Brother White

Jackie French

Aug 2011 · Sold by HarperCollins Australia

About this ebook

The amazing story of Australia's first surgeon and the boy he adopted.

It's 1789, and as the new colony in Sydney Cove is established, Surgeon John White defies convention and adopts Nanberry, an Aboriginal boy, to raise as his son. Nanberry is clever and uses his unique gifts as an interpreter to bridge the two worlds he lives in.With his white brother, Andrew, he witnesses the struggles of the colonists to keep their precarious grip on a hostile wilderness. And yet he is haunted by the memories of the Cadigal warriors who will one day come to claim him as one of their own.

This true story follows the brothers as they make their way in the world - one as a sailor, serving in the Royal Navy, the other a hero of the Battle of Waterloo. No less incredible is the enduring love between the gentleman surgeon and the convict girl who was saved from the death penalty and became a great lady in her own right.

AWARDS

Honour Book - CBCA 2012 (Younger Reader's Book of the Year)

PRAISE

'[Jackie] is one of few masters who can embed historic characters in rattling good tales, and her meticulous research is seamlessly inserted so that you live the detail rather than learn it. Irresistible for history buffs of any age.' - Good Reading Magazine, five stars

'If every Australian history class in the country could be taught by Jackie French, we'd have an entire generation of kids with an enormous thirst for knowledge about our early European settlement and a whole lot more compassion for those who already called this country home.' - Sunday Tasmanian

'I've been telling all my friends to read this book, and to give it to their kids to read. It's absolutely engrossing.' - Herald Sun

Ratings and reviews

love this book but it doesn't have happy ending. i soooooooooo sad for Nanbarry because he died at the end and i feel sorry Andrew cuz he doesn't know how his brother died....

Fantastic book!

were doomed

About the author

Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 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