A review by girljames
Fled by Meg Keneally

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.