Letitia Munro

Letitia Munro #1

by Kev Richardson

A true tale of Australia’s first white settlement. Letitia Munro is a true tale of those who in witless ignorance transform the world’s biggest prison into a land of free enterprise and pride. Ignominy of servitude was bred into the first white Australians as was irrefragable support for the underdog, determination of purpose towards mateship, their flippant attitude to authority and conventions of class distinction, and a will to cleave a path out of adversity to grasp chance and create opportunity. Their children grow up in the shadows of their parents’ pasts, unwitting of the social taboos being woven into the fabric of their spawning culture. When the sins of their fathers become beholden on them as society values change, must they deny their very heritage?

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2010

Reviews

[Carla Hostetter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This heavily documented novel recounts the struggles of those who arrive on the First Fleet of petty criminals destined to carve Sydney out of a wilderness with very little help from the Crown. Conditions are beyond miserable as the convicts clear land and attempt to grow crops in the stony soil. Women are raped, prostitutes thrive in the primitive conditions. No help arrives for two years. Yet strong characters like Letitia Munro survive and build a new life, indeed a whole new world. While the author has a tendency to tell and not show, this book should be of interest to any who want to know more about colonial times in Australia. Letitia, a real person convicted of stealing a bolt of cloth, turns into a pillar of the social structure, meeting every adversity as it comes, even being betrayed yet again when the powers that be decide settlers on Norfolk Island must forfeit all they've built and begin anew in Tasmania--where conditions are not much better than First Fleet days. Richardson continues the story of her many offspring, tainted for being descendants of criminals, to the present day in several more books. I understand that stigma no longer exists--and in fact, many now search for ex-cons in their ancestry.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good insight into convict life.