Swallow

1829: William Swallow has been sent to Van Diemen's Land – for the second time. He is sentenced to die in the hell-hole known as Sarah Island. But he has other ideas. On the journey from Hobart to his final prison, he rallies his fellow convicts and leads them to mutiny. Bruised by the betrayal of John, a fellow convict, friend, and lover, William plans to sail back home to England. Back to his wife Susannah and their young children.

If this was just one of those “important Australia stories” about our convict past, or just a rollicking adventure on the scale of Patrick O’Brien, Bernard Cornwell and C S Forester, it wouldn’t have been a WestWords book. But it is also a novel about the nature of love itself, who you can and can’t love, and how to break not only society’s shackles but also the prisons we make for ourselves. I couldn’t put it down. I don’t think readers will either.

Author: Alexandria Burnham

ISBN: 9781923044524

Type: Paperback
Publisher: WestWords Books
Published Date: Nov 2025