I thank the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC. This book was let down by very bad writing. The treatment of criminals in 18th century London was overly harsh for what we would today consider petty crimes. However, because the writing was distracting, I couldn’t fully enjoy the story.
Just one example: HIGHLIGHT • LOCATION 703
No lives were lost in the wrecking of the Sirius,
but all survivors were now stranded on the island
where the remains of their embattled ship was
witnessed finishing it's life laying on it's side
stuck on the coral reef and tossing in agony, while
the unforgiving the surf kept up its thumping of
the once proud warship, as it slowly fell apart
baring its copper hull to the heavens above.

In the late 1700s, sentenced to transport to Botany Bay, Elizabeth arrives at this new world with only herself to depend on. Her friendship with Jane Faye gives her direction in her life. Although I found the writing a little childish and immature, all in all a good book.

Historically, this a fascinating book about Botany Bay and it's beginnings. I found the dialog hard to read but am glad I read it, regardless. I've wondered about the convicts who were transported, and the conditions they encountered.

Elizabeth got caught pulling stolen goods and was sent us to seven years transportation. On her first day she met Jane Faye and they would be friends until Jane’s sad untimely death. In the interim they would suffer the same deplorable circumstances, love the same man in both bore children out of wedlock. Throughout their whole ordeal they kept coming back to Margaret it kindly woman whose identity was truly unknown to the two women. It would be the man they loved William and Jane son Billy who would eventually find the answer to who Margaret really was. I really enjoyed this book although I thought the dialogue was a bit childish and I don’t know if that is how they truly talked back then, but it made reading the book awkward and not a style I was used to. When William and Billy ran into the Irish rebels I could barely understand what the rebels were saying in the old man was almost entirely unintelligible. Having said that I kept reading the book because it was not good. I love historical fiction and when you read a book where you can tell research was done well it is worth finishing it and I did and loved it. That is why I gave it five stars. I was sad when Elizabeth didn’t want to stay with Tom, but as this was real life there really wasn’t anything the author could do about that. I was given this book by Net Gally and the publisher and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any grammar or punctuation errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.