Edition |
First Harper Large Print edition. |
Description |
437 pages (large print) : map ; 23 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
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large print. rdafs |
Summary |
Sent to a Tasmanian penal colony after conceiving her employer's grandchild, a young governess befriends a talented midwife and an orphaned Aboriginal chief's daughter while confronting the harsh realities of British colonialism and oppression in 19th-century Australia. |
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Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is seduced by her employer's son and becomes pregnant. Sent to Newgate Prison, she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas," Van Diemen's Land, a penal colony in Australia. Evangeline knows the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land. During the journey on the Medea , Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. A skilled midwife and herbalist, Hazel offers home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors. Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen's Land. Soon all three face an opportunity: for a new way of life. -- adapted from back cover |
Subject |
Australia -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
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Australia -- Social conditions -- 19th century -- Fiction.
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Women -- Australia -- Fiction.
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Female friendship -- Fiction.
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Governesses -- Fiction.
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Life change events -- Fiction.
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Midwives -- Fiction.
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Exile (Punishment) -- Fiction.
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Penal colonies -- Australia -- Fiction.
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Large type books.
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Female friendship. (OCoLC)fst00922609
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Governesses. (OCoLC)fst00945132
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Large type books. (OCoLC)fst00992678
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Life change events. (OCoLC)fst00998231
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Midwives. (OCoLC)fst01020625
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Social conditions. (OCoLC)fst01919811
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Women. (OCoLC)fst01176568
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Australia. (OCoLC)fst01204543 |
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1800-1899 |
Genre |
Large type books.
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Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787
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Historical fiction. (OCoLC)fst01726640
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History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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Historical fiction.
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Historical fiction.
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ISBN |
9780063028944 (large print ; paperback) : $29.99 |
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0063028948 (large print ; paperback) |
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9781648380921 (large print ; hardcover) |
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1648380921 (large print ; hardcover) |
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