This is the second time I'm reading this book. It was a gift to me from Steff and I loved it the first time I read it and am loving it the second time around too. Bit slow to start out, but once it gets moving, it's deep with information and gets you thinking about how it was in the 18th century.

Oh! This book!
This book has been on my reading list for so long that I feel accomplished just getting it off that list!!

It's Colleen McCullough. Therefore, you can naturally assume that the research is phenomenal. The writing is unbelievable (albeit leaning towards textbook sometimes in this one). And the characters are extremely well-developed and thoughtful.

However, this book is so dreadful to start! I could only read a page or two at a time. (I confess I kept reading it for so long because a) I really wanted it off my 'to read' list and b) it's Colleen McCullough! You know, at some point, it's gonna get good!!) I had a really hard time attaching to any character and/or caring in the slightest what became of them until much later in the book. At the end of the first section, I considered putting it down forever and forgiving myself for not getting through it.

I did, however, finish reading it (feeling smarter for it!) and am quite glad I did. As depressing and sad as it is throughout the majority (British convicts transported to settle Australia in the late 1700s and all the lack of care, starvation, vermin and dysentery to go with it!), there is an incredible underlying message of hard work, care and love paying off. It is truly a testament to the thousands of convicts (and others) who settled Australia and Norfolk Island; especially those that made it successful!

I want so much to give this 5 stars for many reasons . . the author, the writing, the research, the incredibleness of truth in the story, but I just can't for the struggle it was to get through it.

How's that for a mixed review!?!

My grandma recommended this book to me! It was an interesting saga. I feel that I learned quite a bit about how Australia was founded. I liked the story, but it ended up being a bit long. I´m glad I read it and I did enjoy it. Richard Morgan was a very interesting protagonist, and one I grew to admire.

Research is amazing

While the research involved in this book can not be ignored, the story itself was hardly riveting. The premise is extraordinary, Richard Morgan is extraordinary especially since he was a living breathing person. The story itself became tiresome after 400 pages. I wanted a bit more action, but real life is often more mundane.

I listened to the abridged version and it was very good for an abridged version. It allowed you to capture the soul of the minor characters, which I find is rare in an abridgement. I don't think I can do a proper eval of the book because I think the whole tone of the book was changed by the shortening.

I learned something that should not have surprised me: The terrible conditions of those transported to Austrailia as convicts. The book gave the idea that those who had the old slave ships wanted to make money with them somehow.

I'm glad I read the book and am going to read more from Colleen McCullough.

Fabuloso!
No inicio estava a pensar que iria ser enfadonho, com todas as descrições com que nos brinda ;) mas afinal foi um daqueles livros que nos enchem de emoção!
A Viagem em si, os 12 meses em que ele passa pelas mais variadas privações, é uma viagem maravilhosa: as descrições da costa do Brasil, de Cabo verde, a passagem pelo Cabo da Boa Esperança...
Depois vem a parte humana que também essa foi uma bela "viagem"!
Sem duvida que ADOREI este livro, só espero que, como é referido nas notas finais da autora, surja uma continuação ;)

Richard Morgan is living in Bristol, England in 1775 when the story begins. He's married and helps his father run a tavern. Over the next few years, his life unravels as he loses a significant sum of money in a poor investment along with the loss of his wife and then son. Later, he is arrested and convicted - largely to make him unavailable to testify in another case. He is sentenced to 7 years transportation and is on the first group of ships which take convicts to what is now Australia. It's evident when they get there, that there was little planning in regards to the colony. Life is very rough, but can he make a go of it and serve his time?
I found this through Goodreads Listopia among a list of books set in Australia. I've read a few of McCullough's other books and so decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did. It was a slow start for me (while life was good) but ironically, it had me hooked following his arrest. Historical fiction has interested me for years - getting a taste of another place and period of time. I knew that early Australian settlements were British penal groups but had never read anything about it. This is told focusing on the convicts' perspective. Additional interesting tidbit from the afterward: McCullough's husband is a descendant of Richard Morgan. For me, that makes historical fiction even more interesting and "real" - that it is not just a story made up with historic events, but actual historic characters in the story.

La storia sarebbe avvincente se non fosse troppo piena di dettagli inutili e che appesantiscono la lettura. Brava l'autrice per la ricostruzione storica, ma senza esagerare!

This was a great book! It started out really slow and I was tempted to put it down, but I'm so glad I didn't. It was so interesting to read about the beginnings of the convict camps in Australia. The author's note at the end of the book mentioned she'd like to continue with this series...I really hope to read more about Richard Morgan!

A classic epic that will garner many admirers. This historical fiction is my idea of a great novel. Get lost in Elizabethan London at a time when all criminals, whether proven guilty or not, were condemned to hard labor in a harsh land; Australia and the colonial islands adjacent. Follow every man's (and woman's) hero to verdant Norfolk Island in the Pacific, and feel his pain and pleasure as he does his bit towards taming the wild land and the even wilder inmates. Another great read from McCullough. Highly recommended.

This is a fictionalized account of Richard Morgan who was sent to Australia with the first convict ship in 1787, and all the horrors of those ships. Morgan was the ancestor of Colleen McCullough's husband, as well as singer Helen Reddy and several other prominent people. McCullough is a much-published author, but I felt her sentence structure and punctuation difficult and had to read several passages a second time to figure out what she was saying. I don't know if this is a different Australian style or just poor editing. But the book is definitely worth reading.

I loved this book. First it tells the history of Bristol, which most people probably don't see as a historical city. Then it takes us on a voyage across the world to Australia on the first convict ship. It was fascinating to read what they endured.

My favourite passage was when the hero stands on the deck and sees the whales travelling to their far destinations, just as the ship was. It was so atmospheric.

If you love history and novels based on real history, you will like this one.