This was a book that I was very excited about in 2021 but that – for reasons too dull to explain – got pushed down my reading pile.
I’m so glad I have remedied this now!
The story is set aboard a ship, the Rajah, which is transporting female convicts to Van Dieman’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1841 as sentence for their crimes. On board as a kind of chaperone is Kezia Hayter, a young woman who is determined to see the best in the women and given them purposeful employment on the ship sewing a quilt. However, a brutal attack on one of the sewing circle means that an investigation is launched and Kezia is thrown into a situation she cannot control in the face of the men on the ship determined to root out the attacker.
This book – as I suspected – ticked a lot of the boxes for me. The Victorian-era setting is appealing (even if we are mostly confined to life on the Rajah) and I liked the focus on women’s lives and relationships. Adams is quick to portray the female convicts as victims – their crimes a result of poverty or abuse in a political system stacked against working class women. I enjoyed this more thought-provoking but perhaps unconventional take on the situation of those who have been condemned as criminals.
At the heart of the novel, Kezia is a strong protagonist with all the right intentions. She has a kind of awkward role on the ship as she is expected to be in charge of the women (upholding the rulings of the UK justice system and acting accordingly) but also feels a deep empathy for their situations. I loved the humanity in her stance that transportation is their sentence, but that doesn’t mean she cannot ease the journey for them. The way that the shared craft project unites and creates pride in the women is beautifully written – and it immediately made me Google the original Rajah Quilt that was produced on the real-life voyage that inspired the book.
The theme of female community and craft uniting and strengthening women reminded me strongly of ‘A Single Thread’ by Tracy Chevalier, a book that I loved and would recommend if you enjoy ‘Dangerous Women’.
The time-line of the novel does shift around a lot, particularly between the days before the attack and the investigation after. This can be a little confusing at times, especially in the early portion of the novel when the separate key characters haven’t yet emerged – mercifully, Adams focused on a small sub-group of women on the boat (the sewing group) rather than the entire community of 180 women plus male crew!
However, niggles aside, this is a lively and engaging story that encompasses a central mystery. This definitely kept me reading even if, ultimately, I was more interested in the women’s stories and fates rather than the whodunnit. Although Adams explains that her characters are fictional, even if the Rajah and the quilt are real, it certainly gives the reader food for thought about the lives of the nineteenth-century women who were sent away from Britain for their crimes. This is a book that will immerse you into a very specific sense of time and place, but leave you with lingering thoughts on a much wider scale.
I also listened to the audiobook read by Fenella Woolgar which I would recommend. It helped me ‘hear’ the different characters in a more distinctive way and is read well.
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Header photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
I’ve seen this one around the blogosphere and it also really speaks to me. Love the era and topic!