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1800s: A girl forced into marriage, arrives in the penal colonies where her life changes in unexpected ways
The Convict’s Mistress
What you need to know before your trail
Australia, 1800: Moira, a young Irish girl, arrives in New South Wales with her much older husband, a doctor who has been sent to work at the penal colony.
Locked in a marriage of convenience, the blue skies and sunshine do nothing for Moira; she is miserable, far from home and her beloved horses. A future in this land of red earth seems bleak. But things change after she meets Duncan, one of the convicts, who she saves during a camp raid. As the two get to know each other they grow closer and Moira realises she may have a chance at happiness.
But how can she escape her controlling husband? And Duncan, imprisonment? Together they dream of a future that may never be possible . . .
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Ireland
The novel starts in Ireland with mentions of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook in Dublin but the action soon moves to the boat which will take these travellers to Botany Bay and the convicts who now live out in the far away colonies. These are lands foreign to many in so many ways.
“To New Holland, also know as Terra Australia. But it probably won’t be quite as wild as you imagine, Mrs Delaney. Sydney has existed for eleven years now, after all, and other settlement seem to be flourishing”
The journey
The journey from Ireland takes weeks if not months and it’s a long and torturous journey. Condition on the ship are bad, illness is rife and the conditions in all ways are inhumane.
Australia
The journey to the colonies is fraught with danger, conditions on the boat
The author states that it was in 1788 when the first ships left from headed for the penal colonies of Australia. The convicts and their guards are considered the founders of contemporary Australia. Sydney was the first settlement, named after the British Home Secretary of the time.
The penal colonies
The early years were brutal as the newcomers often had no real skills in farming, building or anything else of need. Crop failures and other problems almost caused the death of many convicts.
Norfolk Island really was the convict camp everyone feared. It was one of the first convict camps and gained its fearsome reputation and its name of “Devil’sIsland after 1825. Samuel and Duncan change things to avoid the worst the island can bring
Real people
Dr McIntyre was fictional but there was a German doctor Philipp Bozzini who invented the forerunner of such a contraption like the oculus introspectans.
Governor King and his wife Anna are real figure in history as are John and Elizabeth Mcarthur who established the first flock of sheep there
D’Arcy Wentworth who may have inspired two of Jane Austen’s characters – Mr Darcy an Captain Wentworth.
John Wilson – He too was a white man who lived amongst the aborigines adopting the name BunBoe and becoming head tribesman – the inspiration behind Joseph the savage
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
There’s something about going on a real journey in a book which continues to fascinate me. I love going back in time too and experiencing something I would never have done in real life ( I hope!) So to spend several weeks on a boat on the rough seas across to Australia, to a penal colony is something very fascinating to me.
What an immersive experience! The smell on board the ship, to the pain of settling into the camps, the forced labour, the heat, the farming, the will to run from your own husband but feeling so alone in a hostile environment…it’s all there and with a cracking storyline to take you along and immerse yourself into it.
It’s a clever way of mixing fact and fiction by an author and looking at a time in history which is so iconic and yet unknown. It felt as if the author had really done her homework and recreated the period yet enhanced it with the little details and the character of Moira and the convicts. I chuckled to see that in the author note, she states that yes, the droppings of the wombat are cube shaped. …I had looked that up! those little interesting details – That’s when I know a book has really spoke to me.
This is a good story which has some very strong character in it and it’s a nice steady read to allow you to really sink in to what’s going on. I also feel I understand the personal angle of these colony camps now and will definately read more of this author
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Convict’s Mistress
Author/Guide: Inez Corbi Destination: NSW, Botany Bay, Sydney Departure Time: 1878 onwards
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