The Exiles

The first time I set foot in Sydney, Australia (after a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles), I knew that I needed to learn as much about the history of that continent as possible.

In bars and cafes, I would listen to Australians speaking to each other, marveling at their accents. I wondered how a colony of convicts could thrive in a place completely different from their homes in England and Ireland. I wondered what they did to the Aboriginal people to claim as much land and wealth as they had.

This is why I was drawn to Christina Baker Kline’s… show more.

This book was particularly intriguing to me because of the time, the 1840s, and the place, Australia. This is not a setting that I’ve ever read a book set in before, and I found it historically and culturally really interesting.

Kline is a talented writer and is particularly good at characterization. The book did not disappoint in that regard. 

The Exiles drew me back to historical fiction in a big way—though I read quite a bit of the genre for my own work.

I loved this one because I’m dying to go to Australia. And secondly, the author’s research for this story is impressive.

It centers on the plight of female convicts who were shipped from London to Australia as indentured workers in 1840—many of them for small infractions. Evangeline, a former governess, is wrongly accused of stealing a ring given to her by the son of the wealthy family she works for. She’s soon off to the dungeon,… show more.