The Captive’s Song

 The Captive’s Song

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       August 21, 2024

 

Author  Amanda Deed

Distributor:      Wombat Books/Rhiza Press
ISBN:                 9781761111464
Publisher:         Rhiza Press
Release Date:   July 2024  

   Website:   https://wombatrhiza.com.au/the-captives-song/

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Transportation of prisoners from England commenced in 1788 and continued to Van Diemen’s land (Tasmania) at least until 1853. Of the 164,000 convicts transported approximately 25,000 were women. Award winning author, Amanda Deed has drawn her fictional women characters from real women’s stories and their suffering at the hands of a brutal penal system.

Charismatic Olivia Cruikshank, who was transported for six years for a petty crime to Van Diemen’s, has lost all faith in mankind. Although popular among her fellow convicts incarcerated in The Female Factory’, she trusts few and is wary of most. Initially she is very suspicious of the new staff member Michael Reeves (Micky), who treats the women very differently from the long term existing, sadistic jailors. 

Believing she has no family and a bleak future, Olivia frequently finds herself in front of the magistrate, who sentences her to more time and even more severe detention in the foul-smelling dark cells. Can Olivia’s gift of a beautiful singing voice and Micky’s Christian faith and genuine interest in Olivia make a difference?   Will Olivia find a way to come to terms with the past and find the ability to trust again?

As a result of her thorough research, the author has been able to construct a page turning narrative of Olivia and Micky’s life and relationship, which gives the reader a greater insight into the cruel treatment, and punishment of the vulnerable convict women by their wardens.

Fiction, Historical