Redemption
About
How would you respond if your death sentence was commuted to life on an island prison half a world away?
Robert Bright and Mary Ann Goulding are beginning life on the island prison of Van Diemen’s Land, serving their sentences under the strict control of a martinet Governor. Two real people caught up in the hopelessness of an unequal, class-ridden society who fight back as the new nation of Australia is forged.
The Helots’ Tale, Redemption – is part II of a deeply-researched two-part novel that transports the reader back in time, weaving intriguingly amongst the real people and real events of an age when the British Empire was in full flow. It describes the adventures of two of the 160,000 souls transported to the new world colonies of Australia in the 1800s.
If you have enjoyed the novels of Charles Dickens you will be interested in more than one reviewer’s comments such as: “many echoes of Dickens in the detail, language and well-researched background of this story” and other reviews:
★★★★★ “I couldn’t put it down”
★★★★★ “Fascinating and very well researched”
★★★★★ “Wonderfully descriptive narrative makes for a most immersive and engaging reading experience”
Did they beat the system?
Praise for this book
★★★★★ Wonderful addition to the old world history
★★★★★ A most engrossing tale
My friend is a descendant but I found I couldn’t put it down .. Well researched and written
★★★★★ A most interesting and entertaining read
I could not put the book down once I started reading. Fascinating and very well researched, it really enlightened me on an awful practice used by the British Justice system, the transporting of people accused of relatively petty crimes to years of exile on the other side of the world and the incredible hardships they experienced getting there.
A well-researched and detailed history of the lives of convicts in Australia in the 1830’s which leaves you hoping for the next volume.
There are many echoes of Dickens in the detail, language and well-researched background of this story, The Helots Tale. The author builds a complex introduction to a narrative that will be continued in a future book, building on the historical facts of two real characters, Robert Bright and Mary Ann Goulding. History buffs will relish the details of English social history as the story unfolds.
The early chapters switch from one family in Shoreditch to the other in Cambridge and we follow the parallel stories of Robbie and Mary Ann as they grow up in poverty and hardship, leading to their petty crimes and subsequent conviction and transportation to Van Dieman’s Land, now Tasmania. Throughout the book are fascinating descriptions. The book ends with an appendix of historical details on which the book is based and a glossary of some of the terms used, giving weight and authenticity to this very satisfying history of Australia’s convict beginnings.