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black dog books’ award-winning history series The Drum uses first-person accounts and non-fiction to bring history roaring to life.
1788. At 20 years old, Mary Bryant was sentenced to death for highway robbery, and left to rot in prison. Eventually she was transported to the wilderness of New South Wales.
When the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788, a life of misery and servitude awaited her.
Three years later Mary escaped.
This is Mary Bryant’s story. It is an English story. It is an Australian story. It is one of the most daring escapes in history.
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The book would be a great read for itself for readers 8 to 14 but would also be a most useful source book for studying the life and times of early Sydney.
— Reading Time
Craig Scutt blends historical fact with convincing re-creations that cover not only Bryant’s life but also her escape to Batavia in a stolen boat. Bryant was an astonishingly resilient woman.
— The Sunday Age
Craig Scutt has brought Mary to life with fictional diary excerpts and historical quotations from people of the time. Not only is this book an excellent account of Mary Bryant’s life but it is also a vivid insight into the beginnings of Sydney and surrounding areas, the hardships of the first fleet and the English penal system... a great story and an easy read. Aimed at children 10 years and over. I recommend it to all students studying Australian history and the First Fleet
— The Reading Stack
Craig Scutt... has put a human face to the early days of this county... Interspersed with Mary’s ‘diary’ entries are more standard retellings of Australian history and these are told with great skill and scholarship...
— Magpies
Craig Scutt has brought Mary to life with fictional diary excerpts and historical quotations from people of the time. Not only is this book an excellent account of Mary Bryant’s life but it is also a vivid insight into the beginnings of Sydney and surrounding areas, the hardships of the first fleet and the English penal system... a great story and an easy read. Aimed at children 10 years and over. I recommend it to all students studying Australian history and the First Fleet
— The Reading Stack