mariacinaz's review
4.0
Wonderfully written adventure
Fascinating fictionalized account of true events. An exciting and harrowing read! Evocative and hard to put down. I recommend it.
Fascinating fictionalized account of true events. An exciting and harrowing read! Evocative and hard to put down. I recommend it.
cereeseb's review against another edition
4.0
Fled, written by Meg Keneally, is an extraordinary historical fiction novel that gives readers a glimpse into the life of Jenny Gwyn, who is based on a woman who defied the odds and became a symbol of resilience. It goes into depth about convicts' lives in Australia's early colonial days-- and It's a page-turner.
Jenny Gwyn is a young woman living in destitution and trying to support her family. She starts robbing people and is lowkey blackmailed into higher-stakes robberies. Eventually she winds up in the backwards justice system, where she's likely to be put to death.
The crown spares her life-- but sentences her to transportation to Australia's penal colony, which is arguably worse? The harsh realities of the journey and the unforgiving landscape of Sydney Cove test Jenny and her peers.
They undergo a treacherous voyage and arrive in a foreign and unforgiving land. Keneally describes very well just how unforgiving the conditions were. Keneally also sheds light on the grim reality of the convicts' treatment, particularly women. The conditions were absolutely deplorable, and in this telling Jenny is basically either forced to be a reluctant prostitute or face being raped.
Jenny's paired up with Dan in Australia. Very bizarre partnership based on survival. Neither of them is down to endure the oppressive colony and it's ever-changing rules. Since they both have sea-backgrounds, they brave the open sea with a few other adults and their two toddlers. Insane!!?
One area that could have been developed better is the pacing. Sometimes it drags, and other times it moves too fast. A more measured pace would have allowed for a stronger read.
Keneally takes what historical accuracy is available and charges it with emotion. There's strong themes of freedom, justice, and autonomy. At the end of the book Keneally walks the reader through the facts & gives more non-fiction resources.
Jenny Gwyn is a young woman living in destitution and trying to support her family. She starts robbing people and is lowkey blackmailed into higher-stakes robberies. Eventually she winds up in the backwards justice system, where she's likely to be put to death.
The crown spares her life-- but sentences her to transportation to Australia's penal colony, which is arguably worse? The harsh realities of the journey and the unforgiving landscape of Sydney Cove test Jenny and her peers.
They undergo a treacherous voyage and arrive in a foreign and unforgiving land. Keneally describes very well just how unforgiving the conditions were. Keneally also sheds light on the grim reality of the convicts' treatment, particularly women. The conditions were absolutely deplorable, and in this telling Jenny is basically either forced to be a reluctant prostitute or face being raped.
Jenny's paired up with Dan in Australia. Very bizarre partnership based on survival. Neither of them is down to endure the oppressive colony and it's ever-changing rules. Since they both have sea-backgrounds, they brave the open sea with a few other adults and their two toddlers. Insane!!?
One area that could have been developed better is the pacing. Sometimes it drags, and other times it moves too fast. A more measured pace would have allowed for a stronger read.
Keneally takes what historical accuracy is available and charges it with emotion. There's strong themes of freedom, justice, and autonomy. At the end of the book Keneally walks the reader through the facts & gives more non-fiction resources.
tpteacher's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be a very interesting book about a historical character I had never heard of. What a life Mary/Jenny led! The writing was very good and I appreciated the comparison after the story of Mary to Jenny. I would rate this 4.5 stars for the writing, story and the introduction of a new true figure into my repertoire.
girljames's review against another edition
4.0
The main character Jenny Trelawney is an 18thC Cornish boatman's daughter, who turned to a career as a highway robber through a combination of poverty and coercion. She is sentenced to transportation to Australia, and, astonishingly, escapes Sydney Cove in a boat. It's based on the true story of Mary Bryant, and it's interesting to read the author's notes about her adaptation of the story (I am obsessed with adaptations). The story is really compelling, and it's always a little wake-up to me when I think about how brutal and cruel colonial-era Australia was. When you get taught about it at school you're like ten years old and not really up for having your face ground in the literal shit of the reality of the Aussie Battler past.
There are some pretty shocking editing errors - whole sentences repeated, confusing punctuation, some badly worded phrases and cliches. I also didn't quite buy Jenny's easy blame of the economy and the King for her crimes - I wanted to see her come to this realisation, or have to argue it more. These things did diminish my enjoyment of it, but overall I really did think this book is fab. I bought it with gift card money from my Waterstones buddy Jimmy, which makes it extra special.
There are some pretty shocking editing errors - whole sentences repeated, confusing punctuation, some badly worded phrases and cliches. I also didn't quite buy Jenny's easy blame of the economy and the King for her crimes - I wanted to see her come to this realisation, or have to argue it more. These things did diminish my enjoyment of it, but overall I really did think this book is fab. I bought it with gift card money from my Waterstones buddy Jimmy, which makes it extra special.
kate_can's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Fled is based on the life of Mary (Dabby) Bryant, the woman behind one of history’s most daring escapes. Sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia, she escaped from the colony and sailed over 3,000 miles for 66 days in a stolen open boat with her husband, two children and other companions to West Timor (Coepang as it was then called). Here she was discovered, arrested and returned to Britain to be incarcerated until she was taken up as a cause célèbre by James Boswell who set her up in a house and sent her a stipend after she returned to Cornwall. In an Author’s Note, Meg Keneally stresses that this is a work of fiction, which is why she has changed some elements of the story, including names of the characters – Mary Bryant becomes Jenny Trelawny, later Gwynn after marrying Dan Gwynn.
The first part of the novel concerns Jenny’s route to crime and the highway robbery for which she was transported to the other side of the world. There is a detailed account of that trip on the Charlotte, on which she conceives and after which her daughter is named. She befriends Captain James Corbett, whose character is based on that of Watkin Tench, who tells her, “We don’t need to remake Newgate on the other side of the world. Well, I imagine there will be a guard house, or something like it. I’m sure that not everybody has left their criminal disposition back in England. But the entire place is intended as a prison. We’ll have no need of walls for the most part, it is to be hoped. We’ll have the ocean.”
Life in this colony is brutish and cruel, as it is intended to be, in a land that must seem upside-down. The triangle that is used for the floggings is “an ominous symbol, a profane and subverted trinity.” To save herself from rape and degradation by the male convicts and soldiers, she marries Dan and has another child, Emmanuel (these were the real names of Mary Bryant’s children). Married couples are given separate quarters but others, jealous of what they perceive to be her advantages, strive to bring her low. When their actions result in Jenny being expelled to the women’s camp, she reflects, “While space was the only blessing this colony provided in abundance, it was one of the many denied to the hut convicts. Jenny now lived in a place of wails and screams and sobs and fights, of stench upon stench, of dangers buried in innocent conversation.”
From the moment she lands in Botany Bay, Jenny knows she wants to leave, and it soon becomes apparent that their best chance of survival is escape. Food is scarce, supply ships are absent, farming is in its infancy, and provisions are rapidly dwindling; making theft of food a hanging offence and starving to death a distinct possibility. Perhaps if the settlers had collaborated with the local people they might have had better chances of survival, but there is limited interaction between the white settlers and the Indigenous tribes. Jenny encounters an Aboriginal woman who shows her what leaves to chew or to brew to avoid scurvy. Although these are plentiful, Jenny guards this knowledge as currency, as she does when the Indigenous people take her fishing and share their methods with her.
Questions have been asked as to why Mary Bryant would risk a journey for herself and her children on the ocean and potential drowning. As well as starvation, the new colony is rife with disease (particularly smallpox) and the dangers to the women convicts are manifold. “Emmanuel’s death at sea is a possibility. His death here is nigh on certain.”
Much of the action of the novel takes place on the water, either in the Charlotte, or the cutter in which Jenny and her companions make their escape. These seafaring experiences are described in some length, which is both terrifying and tedious as indeed it must have been in reality. When they land, Dan’s bragging of his expertise at sailing the boat back to Coepang, leads to them being discovered and their subsequent arrest. The governor who had supported them and admired their skill and courage when he thought they were shipwrecked, turns against them when he learns they are escaped convicts, because he is angry that he has been cheated and make to look a fool; he fears for his reputation and “Laughter, laughter on the seas as the story spreads about the dupe of a governor.” Jenny is frequently at the mercy of men and their egos.
Eventually she returns to her family in Cornwall. She had been afraid of their reaction, but they are thrilled to see her and welcome her back, so the story has come full circle. This is one of the bits that the author has invented, but it makes for a satisfying conclusion. Mary Bryant’s adventure is a fascinating story and, although she has changed the names to compensate for lack of certain facts, Meg Keneally has told it with drama and compassion.
jillianbald's review
Fled is a fictional tale of real life convict and heroine Mary Bryant, and her ordeal when sent to the newly settled English colony of Australia.
In the novel, Mary is called Jenny. The dramas and setbacks the characters faced could have broken anyone, real or fictional, but Jenny persevered to gain her freedom.
Jenny was meant to be a sympathetic heroine. She was an example of the unjust plight of women in the 18th century Western world. Jenny was a fighter, for herself and her babies.
I had expected to be more connected to Jenny and her struggle than I was. As a fictional story, the opportunity was there to really tug at a reader's heartstrings. I yearned for more emotional struggle and insight from the major characters on the pages; more detailed and colorful descriptions of the dangerous new world where Jenny and the others were dumped; more anguish and drama for their desperate situation.
*** This next paragraph is about the how the book ends.***
There isn’t a lot known about Mary Bryant’s true demise, except she did make it back to England—broken and practically feral. Meg Keneally noted that she gave Jenny “the ending I feel Mary deserves” in the epilogue. The conclusion would have felt more authentic without this final Cinderella ending, considering how broken Jenny must have been, both physically and mentally. The happily ever after seemed mismatched. Jenny lived in a dog-eat-dog world where the underdogs didn’t come out on top. I would have been satisfied with a more dramatic “winner-loses-all” outcome for Jenny and her fellow convicts.
In the novel, Mary is called Jenny. The dramas and setbacks the characters faced could have broken anyone, real or fictional, but Jenny persevered to gain her freedom.
Jenny was meant to be a sympathetic heroine. She was an example of the unjust plight of women in the 18th century Western world. Jenny was a fighter, for herself and her babies.
I had expected to be more connected to Jenny and her struggle than I was. As a fictional story, the opportunity was there to really tug at a reader's heartstrings. I yearned for more emotional struggle and insight from the major characters on the pages; more detailed and colorful descriptions of the dangerous new world where Jenny and the others were dumped; more anguish and drama for their desperate situation.
*** This next paragraph is about the how the book ends.***
There isn’t a lot known about Mary Bryant’s true demise, except she did make it back to England—broken and practically feral. Meg Keneally noted that she gave Jenny “the ending I feel Mary deserves” in the epilogue. The conclusion would have felt more authentic without this final Cinderella ending, considering how broken Jenny must have been, both physically and mentally. The happily ever after seemed mismatched. Jenny lived in a dog-eat-dog world where the underdogs didn’t come out on top. I would have been satisfied with a more dramatic “winner-loses-all” outcome for Jenny and her fellow convicts.
courtlane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
5.0
Visit the locations in the novel
I love stories which mix fact and fiction. When they do it this well, I almost want to hug the book.
This is a fictional account of the true story of Mary Bryant, a convict who was sent by boat to the colony in NSW, Australia. Her life, from her time living in Cornwall, and then Plymouth is documented first. There is little known of the real Mary Bryant so this helps to visualise her and her life before the journey to the colony. The court scenes in particular reveal the level and methods of justice metered out at the time. This part of the novel is an addition we are told, yet you can imagine this is very realistic and insightful.
For me, once Jenny (the character’s name in the book) was on board the ship, the book revealed yet another side of this thrilling and dangerous story. The journey took weeks and was very uncomfortable. It was fascinating to be on that ship with the convicts and you can feel their fear of the unknown. Conditions were poor and the journey endless. All was well evoked with the five senses. I almost felt seasick, it was that good.
That’s not even the most eventful part of the story. Mary Bryant has a baby on board. Once at the colony, she and a few others plan their escape. This new journey takes them some 69 days and takes them to Indonesia. I won’t say what happens next but it was a fascinating account of one woman’s efforts to evade justice. I became very keen to see her escape, despite her status as a prisoner. The strength and perseverance of this woman back then was admirable. Is this the right word for describing a fugitive? Probably not. But Mary/Jenny was that kind of character for me.
What a wonderfully adventurous novel. For a debut, this is particularly stunning. Woven with style, built on solid research and an insight into times past. High jinks on the High Seas.