AustLit

'Tommy Bell, Bushranger Boy is a series featuring Tommys time travelling escapades that take him face-to-face with some of Australias most notorious bushrangers. The hero of the series, Tommy Bell, lives in regional NSW in contemporary times but is able to travel back in time to the gold rush days by wearing an old bushranger's hat that he discovered on his grandfather's farm. Each book brings Tommy and his friends up close and personal with one of the outlaws - sometimes as accidental accomplices and other times as victims. With each adventure there is plenty of danger and excitement: armed hold-ups, sieges, frauds, shoot-outs, police chases, jail-time and much more.While the series' main focus is the bushranging adventures, each book contains a parallel story from Tommy's twenty-first century life that tests his friendships and develops his character.While Tommy and his friends are fictional, each bushranging adventure in the series is based on a true story. Book 3 - The Gold Escort Gang-When Tommy Bell finds himself caught in a struggle between two friends, he decides to take a break from it all and escape...back to 1862! Tommy's magic cabbage-tree hat sends him back once again to the gold rush days, when he stumbles into more trouble than he left behind. Face-to-face with the dangerous Frank Gardiner and his mates 'Flash Jack' and Ben Hall, Tommy learns about the value of true friendship...and about how it feels to be part of one of most infamous robberies in Australia's history!' (Publication summary)