Her most notable works include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, , The Girl from Snowy River and Hitler's Daughter.

[3] French began writing Rain Stones, her first book for children, when she was 30 years old, living in a shed and in need of money to register her car.

[4][5] French's books include both fictional, factional and non-fictional accounts of Australian history including Nanberry: Black Brother White, Tom Appleby, A Day to Remember, A Waltz for Matilda, The Girl from Snowy River, The Road to Gundagai, The Night They Stormed Eureka and Flood and Fire and Let the Land Speak: A history of Australia - how the land created our nation.

[6] Her most recent works include To Love a Sunburnt Country[7] and The Beach they called Gallipoli, Fire, and The Hairy-Nosed Wombats Find a New Home.

[9] Her books Hitler's Daughter and Pete the Sheep were adapted for the stage by Monkey BAA Theatre Company.

[27][28][29] In 2016, French was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to literature as an author of children's books, and as an advocate for improved youth literacy.

[10] She is also the ACT Children's Week Ambassador, 2011 Federal Literacy Ambassador, patron of Books for Kids, YESS, Speld ACT, Speld Qld, DAGS (Dyslexia Association Gawler), and joint patron of Monkey BAA Theatre for Young People with Susanne Gervais and Morris Gleitzman.