Escape From Botany Bay - Hardcover

Hausman, Gerald; Hausman, Loretta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0439403278 ISBN 13: 9780439403276

Publisher: Orchard, 2003

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up-A successful combination of fictional narrative based on a real person and well-researched facts. Sentenced to hang for stealing a lady's bonnet in 1786, 19-year-old Mary becomes a remarkable survivor. When her death sentence is commuted, she is transported from England to the wretched bowels of a crowded prison ship bound for Botany Bay. She takes advantage of all help, knowing any assistance comes at a price. One "exchange of sorts" with a marine who has provided her with fresh air, an orange, a clean dress, and a bit of freedom results in a baby. Once on land, the prisoners are expected to build a settlement in what will become Australia. Mary's marriage to another convict, Will Bryant, improves her plight in minute ways but, even so, life is unbearable. Using her contact with a ship's captain and her husband's knowledge of the sea, she, Will, her two children, and seven other convicts escape. After three months and 3000 miles in an open boat, they arrive at Timor, but their freedom is short-lived. Will's drunken stories alert the authorities and the group is soon under arrest. He and the children die of fever in captivity, but by 1794, Mary has returned to Cornwall. Shortly thereafter, records of her existence disappear. The carefully chosen language reflects the voice of an illiterate, uneducated young woman whose intelligence, strength, and determination make her survival possible, and Mary's descriptions awaken the senses to the sights, the sounds, the stink, and the filthy horrors of the floating hulk with "churning neath the keel." This is a riveting adventure for fans of historical fiction.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 6-10. This engrossing novel is based on events in the life of an eighteenth-century woman, Mary Bryant, who led the only successful escape from Australia's Botany Bay penal colony. Unemployed, illiterate, and without family to help, 19-year-old Mary turns to a life of crime. She's condemned to hang for stealing a lady's bonnet, but her sentence is commuted and she's sent to Australia aboard a prison ship. She marries a fellow convict, has two children, and tries to adjust to the harsh life of Botany Bay, but she remains determined to live in freedom. She leads her family and a handful of convicts in a daring escape in an open boat, eventually making her way back to England. The Hausmans use a vivid first-person narrative to unfold Mary's incredible story, and although their character's occasional eloquence is inconsistent with her illiteracy, she's still a fascinating, credible protagonist that readers will like and remember. Ed Sullivan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0439403278
• ISBN 13: 9780439403276
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224