Review
** 'Birch deftly tells a story spanning several decades, with an intensity that is ... lyrical ... and evokes the period without compromising her complex diachronic concerns' TLS ** 'A rich portrait of a shadowy world of 18th century sailors and smugglers, full of characters both charming and fatally flawed. Fans of Margaret Atwood's ALIAS GRACE will enjoy this engaging and compassionate tale' PSYCHOLOGIES ** 'Birch is a naturally literary writer who can, with a simple image, evoke the deepest emotion' GUARDIAN ** 'It is an intelligent and gripping novel (and gnarly enough to make your knockers curl)' INDEPENDENT ** '[Birch has] a first class voice ... An exciting and evocative fictional version of the life of Margaret Catchpole ... The novel is a triumph of texture and historical detail' SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Birch tells an exciting and surprising tale' THE GLOSS ** 'A rollicking tale ... An intelligent and gripping novel with more than enough fast-paced twists and permutationsot make your hair curl' IRISH EXAMINER
Product Description
A convict colony in New South Wales, Australia is the setting for Carol Birch's new novel, based on real events.
New South Wales, 1817. Margaret Catchpole is stranded at a settler's homestead as the floodwater draws in, and she finds herself facing death-as she has several times before.
She looks back over her life-the complex and stormy partnership with Will Laud, a "hell-born-babe," that led her into the world of smuggling and into a double life. After Will is forced to flee the country, Margaret is taken on as a nursemaid by the wealthy Cobbold family, but a crime against them means she is tried and sentenced to hang. She avoids death but when an elaborate escape fails, Will is shot dead and Margaret captured. Sentenced once more to hang, she looks death full in the face. But she doesn't die. Her sentence is commuted to transportation for life to Australia.
The novel explores a deeply divided society. Ironically, by reaching the lowest depths and being cast out by the society which spawned her, Margaret finds her true role as an independent pioneer in a young colony.
