Showing Bridie's Fire by Kirsty Murray

Bridie's world is torn apart when her parents and baby brother die in the Great Hunger. She leaves Ireland, and strikes out alone to claim a life for herself in Australia, on the other side of the ocean.

Bridie's Fire is heart-warming story of courage and resilience. It affirms Kirsty Murray's keen understanding of the human spirit. Starting in the 1840s and ending in present-day Australia. The Children of the Wind quartet tells the stories of four courageous young people, Bridie, Billy, Colm and Maeve, born fifty years apart. The central character from each book becomes a mentor to the child in the next.

A well crafted and finely tuned historical novel...a rollicking adventure. -

Children's Book Council, Notable Books 2004

I loved it! Really, I couldn't put it down. It's such an inspiration . . . my favourite book in the world. - Georgia, Year 8