AustLit

'Graham Seal takes us back to Australia's ignominious beginnings, when a hungry child could be transported to the other side of the globe for stealing a loaf of bread. It was a time when men were flogged till they bled for a minor misdemeanour, teams in iron chains carved roads through sandstone cliffs with hand picks, and wives were selected from a line up at the Female Factory. From the notorious prison regimes at Norfolk Island, Port Arthur and Macquarie Harbour came chilling accounts of cruelty, murder and even cannibalism. With a cast of colourful characters from around the country: the real Artful Dodger, intrepid bushrangers like Martin Cash and Moondyne Joe, and the legendary nurse Margaret Catchpole, Great Convict Stories offers a fascinating insight into life in Australia's first decades.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.