This coming-of-age novel for middle-grade readers is about accepting and celebrating differences.Audrey is used to not fitting in. She knows she's different – even her little sister calls her "Nerd Girl". When her family moves to the country to live on a vineyard property, Audrey makes a secret friend: a boy, Finch, who seems to understand her as nobody else can. But there's something mysterious about Finch. Who is he, really?

It's 1849 . . .and Nellie O'Neill is arriving in South Australia on a ship bringing orphan girls from Irish workhouses. Nellie and her best friend, Mary, have left the famine in Ireland far behind, and are full of hopes and dreams for the future. Nellie longs to learn to read, to be part of a family once more, and never to be hungry again. But with no job and no one to turn to, how will Nellie make her wishes come true?Meet Nellie and join her adventure in the first of four stories about an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself.

It's 1849 . . .and Nellie is starting her new life as a kitchen maid in a grand Adelaide house with her best friend, Mary. But Nellie's desire to live out her dreams soon leads to a battle with the spiteful cook Bessie Rudge... Can Nellie keep her temper and avoid being thrown out to beg on the streets? And why is Mary acting so strangely?Follow Nellie on her adventure in the second of four exciting stories about an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself.

It's 1850 . . . and Nellie is returning to Adelaide after searching for the Thompson family at the Burra. She's keen to get back to her best friend, Mary, who is ill in hospital. But she is in for a terrible shock . . . Even Nellie begins to feel that all is lost and that she might never achieve her dreams. Will her spirit be crushed, or can she turn her fate around?Follow Nellie on her adventure in the final of four stories about an Irish girls with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself.

It's 1850 and Nellie's best friend, Mary, is gravely ill. To provide Mary with the care she needs, Nellie must break a promise and go on a quest to find the Thompson family. But will they be able to help? And who will Nellie turn to when her own life is in danger?Follow Nellie on her adventure in the third of four exciting stories about an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself.

It's 1930 . . . and Ruby Quinlan lives in a big house in Adelaide with her parents and her fox terrier, Baxter. As she gets ready for her twelfth birthday party, Ruby has never been happier. But the world she knows is collapsing, and people everywhere are losing their jobs and their homes. Soon Ruby's comfortable life falls apart in ways she could never have imagined . . .Meet Ruby and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a happy-go-lucky girl in a time of great change.

Henry lives with his father and sister on the Victorian goldfields. Still mourning the loss of his mother and baby brother, Henry helps his father to mine their claim and hopes that one day they will strike it rich. But they can't afford a mining license and without a license they are at the mercy of the corrupt police. When Henry meets a new friend, Frank, he enters a world of politics, riots and rebellion that will lead him to Eureka Stockade, one of the defining moments in Australian history.