The Floating Brothel - Sian Rees

This history book combines an old interest of mine with a comparatively new one - late 18th century London and the early history of Sydney. It details the journey of a group of women from Newgate gaol to the new outpost of New South Wales.

The crimes for which the women are transported were often pitifully minor and the journey sounds horrific, although apparently conditions on the Lady Julian were far better than convicts endured on many other ships. The story is well-told and cracks along nicely, although due to gaps in the historical record the individual women do not quite leap off the page as they could. It was refreshing to have a history book that focused on women at all, though.

(Incidentally, my copy was also poorly edited and had idiosyncratic footnotes. It felt like a proof copy but there was no evidence that it was the case. Weird.)