Renowned for her historical fiction titles, Jackie French now tells the story of the brilliant and famous evacuation of Gallipoli.
Sixteen-year-old Nipper and his Gallipoli mates Lanky, Spud, Bluey and Wallaby Joe are starving, freezing and ill-equipped. By November 1915 they know that there is more to winning a war than courage. The Gallipoli campaign has been lost.
Nipper has played cricket with the Turks in the opposing dugout, dodged rocket fire and rescued drowning, freezing men when the blizzard snow melted. He is one of the few trusted with the secret kept from even most of the officers: how an entire army will vanish from the Peninsula over three impeccably planned nights.
Based on first-hand accounts of those extraordinary last weeks of the Gallipoli campaign, this is the fascinating ‘lost story’ of how 150,000 men – and their horses and equipment – were secretly moved to waiting ships without a single life lost. It is an unforgettable story told through the eyes of a boy who lied about his age to defend his country.
The Great Gallipoli Escape is a remarkable feat of research that has been empathetically and expertly crafted into compelling and illuminating fiction in the way that only Jackie French can. Each chapter is framed by a quote from primary source material, making the fictionalised retelling of the events that follow all the more moving and compelling.
While this is certainly a fantastic read for young readers aged 10 and up, I also found it to be engrossing and educational as an adult, appreciating the deeply human perspective on the much-mythicised events of Gallipoli. I can see older teen and young adult readers feeling a strong affinity with the book’s young protagonist.
This is the kind of book that gets even the most reluctant kids reading, opening their eyes to the amazing breadth of experiences that exist beyond their own, and demonstrating how a book can be a portal into those other worlds. In today’s age, it’s more important than ever for us all to reflect on the disastrous impacts of war. French brings this reality to life, balancing hard-hitting truths with enough light-heartedness to make this an engaging and age appropriate read.
At the story’s conclusion, French provides extensive notes on her research that will feed young readers’ (and parents’) curiosity, including diagrams detailing real-life DIY inventions from the battlefields, and reflections on French’s writing process. Far more than just classroom notes, these additions make this important narrative all the more special.
The Great Gallipoli Escape is a wonderful book for parents to read alongside your kids, to start an open dialogue about what we can learn from history and how we can use our knowledge to work towards peace. I couldn’t recommend it more.
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