Convictions

by Judith Silverthorne

It’s 1842. 14-year-old Jennie Lawrence has been found guilty of stealing, and finds herself aboard one of the few women-only convict ships destined for Australia.

Jennie had been desperate – and, as she gets to know the other women on the convict ship – she realizes she’s not the only one. Many of the women she gets to know were trying to survive, and feed themselves and their families, before they were caught and sentenced to Australia.

It’s clear from the moment the ship sets sail that the conditions aboard are abhorrent – women are sea sick and ill from the lack of good food and water, they are beaten if they disobey orders, and sleep brings no reprieve – as bed bugs, rats, and other parasites attack them in the night.

The only way for the women to survive the boat ride is if they band together. And so, with the help of her new “family” - Sarah, Bridget, and Alice - and other convicts, Jennie battles the jailers, the ship, and the sea. But will it be enough to set them free?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult

233 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2016

Reviews

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a female convict ship sent to Australia and New Zealand. An awful time in British history and a lot of these women weren’t convicts at all, just stealing a loaf of bread could get you sent away. A fictionalized account set in 1840 – this story concentrates on Jennie, Alice, Sarah and Kate. Worth reading if you aren’t at all familiar with these events.

[Anne Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Convictions is a fast-paced, compelling read about heart-breaking acts of injustice that are part of our social history. The setting is aboard a ship transporting 250 female convicts to serve their sentences in Australia in 1842. The story unfolds through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Jennie, who was caught taking a moldy bag of oats from a rubbish bin to feed her younger sisters. As we meet the convicts crammed into the bunks around her, each woman has an equally poignant tale of trying to survive at a time when the starving poor were accorded no sympathy from the law. Silverthorne found each woman's 'crime' in the archival records of the time. The author clearly differentiates each character's voice and mannerisms, so it is always clear who is speaking or acting.
We experience Jennie's trauma intimately as she struggles to comprehend her new reality: suffering through putrid living conditions, witnessing cruel punishments and fending off sexual attacks by vicious guards who feel free to do whatever they want. At the same time she experiences acts of kindness and courage by other inmates, including an Irish woman and a woman who survived by being a doxy. (It takes Jennie a while to understand what this was.) Jennie had been taught to avoid the 'heathen Irish' and degenerate doxies she has to re-examine assumptions passed down from her family. She is forced to re-examine her faith because all the prayers repeated in the filthy hold of the ship do not change their conditions. Only their own actions make a difference. The book culminates with a terrible storm where everything falls apart and is rebuilt for a better future.
Some scenes will bring tears to your eyes; others will make you laugh. Still others will arouse intense indignation at the unfairness of their treatment. Your heart will be racing during the life-and-death hurricane on the high seas. Recommended for adolescents and adults who care about social justice issues.

[Read InAGarden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good historical fiction.