Historiske romaner er en af mit livs mange glæder. De foregår under ægte omstændigheder på et tidspunkt i historien, men detaljerne og handlingen er opdigtet af forfatteren. Det er en måde at lære om fortiden på, som om man selv var midt i det. Uden at kede sig som med en almindelig historiebog.

Denne roman, Morgans Run, følger den engelske straffefange, Richard Morgan, der sammen med hundredvis af andre sendes til Australien, fordi der ikke er plads i Londons fængsler. I Australien skal de skabe et liv af ingenting – Lettere sagt end gjort.

Australien blev grundlagt af fjolser og forbrydere fra England, der blev sendt passive, selvtilfredse, uden ambitioner til verdens ende. Her fandt de et ensformigt, vissent land i olivengrønne farve, hvor ingenting kunne gro.

Mange af fangerne døde på turen til down under. Andre døde af sult, da de ankom. Flere blev sindssyge. De fleste vendte hjem, så snart de kunne. Men der var også nogle, som Richard Morgan, der gjorde Australien til deres hjem.

Dette er en dannelsesfortælling om sorg, kærlighed og en mand, der må genopfinde sig selv. Den er virkelig lang, men den er spændende – Og du bliver ekspert på kolonitiden!

Morgan's Run is a very long book, filled with the history of England's settlement of Australia. Although I've known it was basically a settlement of convicts—people found guilty of both serious and minor crimes—I really knew very little of the trials and hardships of those sentenced to "transportation". The story is based on the life of Richard Morgan, a man of intelligence, high morals, from a good hard-working Bristol family who was convicted on what was basically a false charge.

The book involves detailed descriptions of the conditions convicts were forced to endure, both in the local jails, on the former slave ships which took a year to round the globe from Britain to Australia's Botany Bay, but also in the wilderness that greeted them in the hostile world of the outback. Richard Morgan, much better prepared than others, soon becomes the leader of a small group, a leadership that continues in the unforgiving new life where no preparations have been made for the hundreds of convicts dumped there. Haunted by sorrows of his former life where he suffered the deaths of both his children and his wife, Richard is determined to do well. Because he works hard, makes a few good friends, and impresses those in authority he manages to make a satisfactory life for himself and eventually acquires a new family whom he comes to love dearly. His story is based on the life of one of the actual settlers.

This is another of Colleen McCullough's great sagas. Although perhaps it lacks the thrill and heart-rending emotion of The Thorn Birds, it is filled with exciting historical fact, and describes well the grueling lives of the disenfranchised convicts forced to settle that faraway part of the world. The strength, determination, and compassion of Richard Morgan leaves the reader with a lasting impression of the best of the best of these first Australian settlers. I learned a great deal and would recommend Morgan's Run to anyone who enjoys serious historical fiction.

I love books like this that are fictional characters based on actual historical events. This story takes you along with an Irish man wrongly imprisoned by Britan and shipped to Australia on slave ships, and then required to set up a colony on the "uninhabited" island. A really moving story about a corageous man.

Loved this book, it was a bit slow to start but once things went pear shaped for the lead character, things got interesting for the reader. Colleen McCulloch's perspective on the transportation of convicts to Australia is fascinating and vivid. Her characters grow more loveable with each turn of the page and this novel makes strong links to the character and grit of the Australian people, regardless of ancestry.