All Fall Down

Sydney, Australia, 1900. Feisty fourteen-year-old Christabel McManus is tired of trying to live up to her workaholic widowed father's ideas of how a rich young lady should behave. When a servant's son is kidnapped by his deadbeat dad, Christabel jumps at the chance to add some thrill to her boring, lonely existence. Dressed as a boy, she secretly heads into the slums to rescue the missing child, but soon learns that the tough dockside neighbourhood is nothing like the life she knows. Menaced by street gangs, white slavers, and an imminent outbreak of deadly plague, brave Belle refuses to give in to her fears and finds a way to get herself and the missing boy safely home--to a home she has now learned to appreciate.

Main character Christabel is a lively, likeable girl who embodies the resourceful, never-say-die Aussie spirit. She is surrounded by strong female figures, from the capable working women who run her father's household, to the single mothers who spearhead the Salvation Army's temperance campaigns, to the educated ladies who organize suffragette movements. These women are all splendid role models for Geason's readers. What's more, these vibrant characters combine with Geason's vivid descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells of the city to paint a detailed, realistic portrait of life in turn-of-the-century Sydney. All Fall Down gives readers a rare chance to learn some Australian history and vocabulary while following the exciting adventures of an entertaining heroine. So all I can say is: Oi, mate! You'd better get a move on and read this book!