BEHIND THE SUN by Deborah Challinor

BEHIND THE SUN by Deborah Challinor

This is the first novel in a series aboaut four young women, convicted felons, who are transported to the penal colony of Botany Bay in the late 1820s. As the descendant of one such young woman, I have more than the average interest in their story and what life would have been like for such a young woman of the time. The author is Australian convict royalty indeed, being descended from three convicts, one of whom arrived in Botany Bay on the same ship as my ancestor - the Lady Juliana in 1789, also infamously known as the Floating Brothel, but that is another story.

This story is set some forty years later, when the settlement of Sydney was growing and becoming more established. Ships carrying convicts were still regular arrivals until 1840, with the women convicts being offloaded and transferred to the Parramatta Female Factory Precint, a short distance up the Parramatta River. The author says in her notes that 20% of Australians, and no doubt a fair few New Zealanders, are descended from women who went through the factory gates.

The book begins in London, where Friday, Harriet, Sarah and Rachel are each caught and convicted of crimes ranging from prosititution, stealing some material, stealing jewellery, and being destitute. Although they are from vastly different backgrounds, one they meet in Newgate Gaol - truly lovely place - they forge an inseparable bond which sees them through the voyage to New South Wales. Much of the book is taken up with the voyage, providing a detailed account of shipboard life which was actually not too bad compared with being in Newgate Gaol. The food was reasonable, the captain was a reasonably enlightened man, it seems the women in general got on, and I imagine once the distress of leaving England and loved ones, plus the sea legs were found, for many of the women, their lives were vastly improved. For some not so much, as the ship did carry male passengers, and of course the crew. Amongst other happenings on board, Rachel catches the eye of one particular passenger, the consequences of which reverbarate long after the ship's arrival in Botany Bay.

Their arrival in Botany Bay signals the beginning of their seven years of punishment beginning with the transfer to the Parramatta Factory where they stay until suitable employment is found, usually in a shop or as a domestic servant. Being a novel, life for each of the girls takes many and interesting turns, but throughout they have each other and the loyalty between them is very strong.

This is excellent historical fiction. The author has extensively researched London life in the early 19th century, court transcripts of trials, the back stories of many convict women - I was amazed to read that about 65% of convict women could read and around half of these could write. Newgate Gaol, shipboard life and crews, early Sydney, the Parramatta Factory and the lives of many female convicts in Sydney and the surrounds are almost as interesting as the characters. The four main characters are interesting and complex young women, with quite different back stories who are thrown together in what must have been a frightening time and facing an unknown future. The scene is well and truly set for the next novel in the series, and I look forward to reading that in due course.