Meet Nellie

Our Australian Girl - Nellie #1

by Penny Matthews

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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Australia, Historical

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2012

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve-year-old Nellie O'Neill lost her entire family - mother, father, and three younger siblings - to the famine in Ireland. After that, she had to live in a horrible workhouse, but now she has the chance for a new life. Nellie has arrived in Australia with a group of other Irish orphan girls, who are to work as maidservants.

At first, Nellie is worried that she will not be chosen to work as a servant, or that if she is, her employer will be cruel to her. However, Nellie is lucky, because she is chosen to work for a kind woman who runs a boardinghouse. For the first time in her life Nellie has her own room, and unlike in Ireland, there is plenty of food. But can her good fortune last?

I enjoyed the books I read in the Our Australian Girl series last year so I was happy when I found out there would be two new sets of books released this year. This series is a lot like the American Girls series, but set in Australia. Each character lives during a different time and place in Australian history and her story is told in a four book series. Although this book was not my favorite from the series (my favorite books so far were the stories about Grace, a young convict girl in 1808), I enjoyed reading Nellie's story and look forward to reading the other three books about her, which will be published later this year.

[elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logging this as all 4 books + extra content because the individual ones are quite short.
Oh my, this was SO MUCH FUN. I had to put the book down every few pages to smile and savour the story and I re-read so many passages and tried to slow this down as much as possible. Nellie will always be my favourite out of the Australian Girls series.
When I read this I upped her age in my head so that I can fully experience the shipping of Tom and Nellie. I really like Nellie, she was an interesting character that wasn't boring. Some things are left brushed over or open-ended, but I'm ignoring that because it's a kids book. I also love Tom a lot and I just need more content of him BECAUSE I LOVE HIM AND NELLIE SO MUCH. I will respectfully be ignoring (and always have) the second half of the bonus content outlining the rest of Nellie's life.

[Amandajane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical children's novel series I am reading to my 9 yo daughter. This story is set in 1849 following the famine in Ireland. Nellie is an Irish workhouse orphan being sent to Australia. She lost her whole family in the famine and she and her friend Rose have high hopes for their new life in Adelaide.

These stories are a great way to learn about Australian history and what life was like in other time periods.

[Chloe C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series includes 4 books about an orphan girl, Nellie. The content in this series is definitely a more serious subject, since is revolves around orphanage and real world problems. I think it's a really deep book, which I recommend to older real life genres readers as it is more complicated.

[Jade Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these books when i was younger and these were some of my favourite childhood books. Yes it’s a short read but i desperately need some easy reads to reach my goal for this year lol im quite behind

[Giang · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked it. also in series but it's not thick

[Lana]

How do I read this book this is the worst site ever
- Garlic

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a long three month closure of our library, we are FINALLY able to continue reading the Our Australian Girl books. My youngest is already really enjoying the story of Nellie...

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Nellie might be my favourite girl after Rose - absolutely loved her and the introduction to her story! She's an Irish orphan who's been sent to Australia with a lot of other workhouse orphans and she's a lovely character. Lots of spunk - I loved it when she told William and Hetty that she'd chopped up the mouse they'd pinned to her skirt and put it in their dinners! The ending of the story made me really sad though. The boarding house burns down, and Nellie runs back in to save the baby. But then when the family decide to give up the idea of restarting and move out bush, they don't take her with them. Even when she says she'll work for free - and with that many children about, wouldn't another pair of hands be useful?! But come ON, she saved their baby's life! AND lost all her possessions. And they just leave her behind with nothing but two coins and a reference to her name.

But hey look, I have an Adelaide shelf now :)

[Amanda Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro to historical fiction. Would love to have more of my students read this series.

[Annabelle Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about how a girl called Nellie O'Neil has just traveled from Ireland to Adelaide, on a orphan ship.

[Georgia.gilroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was a really great read

[Eilish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book it really made me feel like I was there and took me back to 1849