A SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURE FROM AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE Twelve-year-old Ben Huntsmore is the son of a shipowner, an only child who loves the farming life on his family's estate, Badger's Hill.But when Ben's father loses their ancestral home to pay a gambling debt, Ben reluctantly joins his father in a desperate venture to win it back, capturing enemy trading ships off the west Australian coast.While at sea, Ben must face not just the giant waves of the Southern Ocean but also Dutch guns, as well as unexpected treachery as he realises that his almost-unknown father will sacrifice even his son to make his fortune. Only the unexpected friendships of the mysterious convict Higgins and the young Indigenous sailor Guwara will help Ben survive, as well as show him the true meaning of loyalty and riches.From renowned children's author Jackie French comes a book filled with swashbuckling adventures that uncovers Australia's hidden history as a pirate port and slavers' den. PRAISE FOR NANBERRY: BLACK BROTHER WHITE'For really, really good Australian young-adult (and middle-grade) historical fiction, Jackie French has always been a winner ... With Nanberry: Black Brother White she delivers an excellent fictionalised account of the First Fleet's settlement at Sydney Cove ... a powerful novel' - Australian Bookseller oPublisher, 5 stars'She is one of few masters who can embed historic characters in rattling good tales, and her meticulous research is seamlessly inserted so that you live the detail rather than learn it. Even if you are not into history, Nanberry will hook you in ... Irresistible for history buffs of any age' - Good Reading Magazine, 5 stars'I've been telling all my friends to read this book, and to give it to their kids to read. It's absolutely engrossing' - Herald Sun