Happy Friday, book lovers, and welcome to First Line Friday hosted by Hoarding Books. Many of my international friends and readers have heard about the bushfires that have been devastating Australia over the last weeks and months. While I have not been in danger personally, I have friends and family who have had to be on constant alert or even evacuated, and it has been heartbreaking to see reports of the loss and suffering in other beloved parts of our country. As a family, we have made the twelve-hour drive to Melbourne from our home north of Sydney many times, and so many of the small towns and rural landscapes we enjoy visiting along the way have been severely impacted by the fires.

I have shed tears several times over the past weeks at the outpouring of love and concern from the international community, and I’ve shed tears again today as my beautiful book buddies at Hoarding Books have come together to show their love and support for my beautiful country. Truth be told, I’m having trouble even seeing what I’m typing here! Teary LOL! 

So today, each of the Hoarding Book members (Reading is My Superpower, Faithfully Bookish, Bookworm Mama, Singing Librarian, and I) plus my dear fellow-Aussie, Rel from Relz Reviewz, is featuring a book by an Australian author or with an Australian setting, and we invite you to share one in the comments below or for your own First Line Friday post this week or next.

My choice for this week is a book I read over the Christmas break by Australian author Jackie French. (Not Christian fiction, but clean.) She’s written a series of historical novels inspired by Australian folk songs, the first of which is A Waltz for Matilda, based on Banjo Paterson’s well known (to Australians) poem Waltzing Matilda. Apart from being a well-told story, it was a timely reminder that Australians have always battled harsh conditions in this sunburnt country of ours. But the indomitable spirit of the Aussie battler has never been easily broken, and it won’t be any different this time around. ❤️️