This novel tells the true story of Mary Bryant, a spirited girl in 18th century England, who is sentenced to a prison ship bound for Australia but makes a harrowing escape. Caught stealing a lady's bonnet in Cornwall, England, in 1786, 19-year-old Mary Broad is sentenced to seven years' incarceration on a prison ship bound for Australia. Amid squalid, dangerous conditions below decks, Mary fights for her life and her dignity, and her spirited, outspoken ways rally her fellow prisoners. She also attracts the attention of Watkin Tench, a marine who helps her get food and clothing and whose child she eventually bears. But Tench will not marry her, and Mary is betrothed to Will Bryant, another convict whom she'd known as a child.

For the crime of robbing a wealthy woman of a silk bonnet and a few guineas, an illiterate Cornish woman faces the hangman's noose. Her death sentence is commuted; instead she finds herself transported in chains on the First Fleet to Botany Bay, New South Wales to serve seven years penal servitude. So begins the extraordinary but true story of legendary Mary Bryant, the only female convict to escape from Botany Bay and whose open-boat escape voyage with her husband, two children and seven other convicts, must rank along with Captain Bligh's as one of the most amazing and courageous in history. Unlike any other biography published on Mary Bryant, author Jonathan King brings the story of this remarkable woman to life by stepping into her shoes. King unfolds Mary's development from a simple, poor Cornish girl to a woman who experienced more in her first twenty-eight years than many in their entire lives.

A fierce and heart-breaking historical debut, perfect for fans of The Light Between Oceans and based on the incredible true story of convict Mary Bryant. Highway robber Convict Runaway Mother Jenny Trelawney is no ordinary thief. Forced by poverty to live in the Devon forest, she becomes a successful highway woman - until her luck runs out. Transported to Australia, pregnant and alone, Jenny must face harsh challenges in an unforgiving land. When famine hits the new colony, Jenny becomes convinced that those she most cares about will not survive. She becomes the leader in a grand plot of escape. Setting sail in a small open boat on an unknown ocean, she will do anything for freedom, but at what cost?

Among the vast body of manuscripts composed and collected by the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), held by UCL Library’s Special Collections, is the earliest Australian convict narrative, Memorandoms by James Martin. This document also happens to be the only extant first-hand account of the most well-known, and most mythologized, escape from Australia by transported convicts. On the night of 28 March 1791, James Martin, William and Mary Bryant and their two infant children, and six other male convicts, stole the colony’s fishing boat and sailed out of Sydney Harbour. Within ten weeks they had reached Kupang in West Timor, having, in an amazing feat of endurance, travelled over 3,000 miles (c. 5,000) kilometres) in an open boat. There they passed themselves off as the survivors of a shipwreck, a ruse which—initially, at least—fooled their Dutch hosts. This new edition of the Memorandoms includes full colour reproductions of the original manuscripts, making available for the first time this hugely important document, alongside a transcript with commentary describing the events and key characters. The book also features a scholarly introduction which examines their escape and early convict absconding in New South Wales more generally, and, drawing on primary records, presents new research which sheds light on the fate of the escapees after they reached Kupang. The introduction also assesses the voluminous literature on this most famous escape, and critically examines the myths and fictions created around it and the escapees, myths which have gone unchallenged for far too long. Finally, the introduction briefly discusses Jeremy Bentham’s views on convict transportation and their enduring impact.

"At age 21, Mary Broom was sentenced to hang for the crime of stealing a cloak. When her sentence was commuted to transportation "upon the sea, beyond the seas," she was sent to Australia. One of the first European women to set foot on the continent, she landed in what was to become a prison colony popularly known as "Botany Bay." Mary endured two "starvation years" as the colony struggled to feed itself. Then, in 1791, she executed the most daring escape ever attempted from that wild and brutal place on the far side of the world." "How such a young, uneducated woman could have developed a plan to get herself back to England, and found the courage to implement it, is a mystery. How she persuaded eight men to accept her leadership is more mysterious yet. Her story has been told before, in history and fiction, the two generally co-mingled, as they are here. But never has the nature of this remarkable woman been so completely explored." "What combination of physical endurance, psychological daring, natural intelligence, and trust in her own intuition made it possible for Mary Broom to succeed at the kind of escape that almost always ended in death for those who attempted it? And what does her story say about how much female liberation and equality have been advanced by women who never considered the concept, only its absolute necessity?"--BOOK JACKET.

A sacred text to Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians, The Kebra Nagast tells of the relationship between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and their son Menyelik, who hid the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. This edition of the Ethiopian text is edited by Gerald Hausman, with an introduction by Ziggy Marley.

Acclaim for Carolly Erickson "Carolly Erickson is one of the most accomplished and successful historical biographers writing in English." -The Times Literary Supplement The First Elizabeth "Even more readable and absorbing than the justly praised works of Tuchman and Fraser. A vivid and eminently readable portrait of history's favorite Tudor." -The New York Times Book Review "A masterpiece of narrative, a story so absorbing it is as hard to put down as a fine novel." -Los Angeles Times Book Review Alexandra "Gifted . . . breathless . . . heartbreaking . . . Erickson excels." -Chicago Tribune Josephine "An intimate, richly detailed, and candid portrait . . . [Erickson's] scholarly insights combine superbly with a mastery of period manners more often found in the best historical fiction." -Kirkus Reviews Mistress Anne "Carolly Erickson is a most admirable biographer, and this book is highly enjoyable as well as being reliable and acute; indeed, it is popular historical biography at its best." -The Times (London)