From Publishers Weekly
Veteran biographer Erickson (Great Harry, etc.) focuses on Mary Broad, who was arrested for robbery in 1786 and transported in sordid conditions to the new penal colony in Australia. But the book is, more generally, a stark and fascinating account of what prisoners endured: in England, where harsh laws protected property in an era of unsettling social change; on board ship; and in the penal colonies themselves, where the convicts and their guards carved a bleak existence out of the inhospitable environment. Life was particularly harsh for women, who, in addition to the usual deprivations, also endured the threat of rape and the responsibilities and sorrows of raising children in dire conditions. Mary Broad, along with several male convicts and her own young children, made a daring escape in a small, stolen boat. Perhaps fortified by stories of the survivors of the Bounty, they sailed along the Australian coast and across open sea to the Dutch settlement of Kupang in Indonesia, where they enjoyed a few months of ease before their recapture. Despite Erickson's speculations, little can be known concretely about Mary as an individual. Her story draws in the reader, nonetheless, and Mary's brief moment of celebrity, when the escape and the well-timed intervention of the writer James Boswell earn her a royal pardon, provides a satisfying end to the unrelenting hardship of her life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
From prizewinning biographer Carolly Erickson, the harrowing story of a celebrated convict's 4,000-mile escape from prison by sea with her two small children
In 1788, the British government commuted nineteen-year-old Mary Bryant's death sentence and transported her to Botany Bay, the penal colony in Australia. Her crime: stealing a lady's bonnet. In Australia, Mary married another convict and had two children, but harsh conditions made life increasingly unbearable.
In 1791, she, her family, and seven other convicts escaped in a small open boat-and sailed an astonishing 4,000 miles to the Dutch colony at Timor. The convicts initially passed as survivors of a shipwreck, but they were soon exposed, rounded up, and put on a ship back to England. Mary's two children died of fever on the voyage, and it seemed likely that she would face transportation back to Australia. But in England, her amazing escape and tragic story quickly became a cause celebre, and Mary was ultimately pardoned. Now, in this gripping narrative history, Carolly Erickson brings this remarkable woman to life, offering an indelible account of crime, punishment, heroism, and redemption.
Carolly Erickson (Kailua, HI) is a distinguished historian who has written biographies of Empress Josephine, Tsarina Alexandra, and Queens Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II.
In 1788, the British government commuted nineteen-year-old Mary Bryant's death sentence and transported her to Botany Bay, the penal colony in Australia. Her crime: stealing a lady's bonnet. In Australia, Mary married another convict and had two children, but harsh conditions made life increasingly unbearable.
In 1791, she, her family, and seven other convicts escaped in a small open boat-and sailed an astonishing 4,000 miles to the Dutch colony at Timor. The convicts initially passed as survivors of a shipwreck, but they were soon exposed, rounded up, and put on a ship back to England. Mary's two children died of fever on the voyage, and it seemed likely that she would face transportation back to Australia. But in England, her amazing escape and tragic story quickly became a cause celebre, and Mary was ultimately pardoned. Now, in this gripping narrative history, Carolly Erickson brings this remarkable woman to life, offering an indelible account of crime, punishment, heroism, and redemption.
Carolly Erickson (Kailua, HI) is a distinguished historian who has written biographies of Empress Josephine, Tsarina Alexandra, and Queens Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II.
