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The Australians #1.2
The Prisoners
The second book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of a country built on blood, passion, and dreams.
Life in the new colony of Australia is tough — tough for those who are free and even tougher for the prisoners. Many succumb to disease and starvation. Many try to escape, but only few succeed, and those who fail are brutally punished.
Yet some, including Jenny Taggart, are determined to make this savage land their own. She is betrayed in friendship and in love, but she never parts with her a future as a free woman.
Rebels and outcasts, they fled halfway across the earth to settle the harsh Australian wastelands. Decades later — ennobled by love and strengthened by tragedy — they had transformed a wilderness into a fertile land. And themselves into The Australians.
Life in the new colony of Australia is tough — tough for those who are free and even tougher for the prisoners. Many succumb to disease and starvation. Many try to escape, but only few succeed, and those who fail are brutally punished.
Yet some, including Jenny Taggart, are determined to make this savage land their own. She is betrayed in friendship and in love, but she never parts with her a future as a free woman.
Rebels and outcasts, they fled halfway across the earth to settle the harsh Australian wastelands. Decades later — ennobled by love and strengthened by tragedy — they had transformed a wilderness into a fertile land. And themselves into The Australians.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 20, 2022
25 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Vivian Stuart
75 books12 followersSee also V.A. Stuart.
Violet Vivian Finlay was born on 2 January 1914 in Berkshire, England, UK, the daughter of Alice Kathleen (née Norton) and Sir Campbell Kirkman Finlay. Her father was the owner and director of Burmah Oil Company Ltd., whose Scottish family also owned James Finlay and Company Ltd. The majority of her childhood and youth was spent in Rangoon, Burma (now also known as Myanmar), where her father worked. During her life, she frequently journeyed between India, Singapore, Java and Sumatra.
Although Vivian is well-known by the surname of Stuart, she married four times during her lifetime, and had five children: Gillian Rushton (née Porch), Kim Santow, Jennifer Gooch (née Stuart), and twins Vary and Valerie Stuart.
Following the dissolution of her first marriage, she studied for a time Law in London in the mid 1930s, before decided studied Medicine at the University of London. Later she spent time in Hungary in the capacity of private tutor in English, while she obtained a pathologist qualification at the University of Budapest in 1938. In 1939, she emigrated to Australia with her second husband, a Hungarian Doctor Geza Santow with whom she worked. In 1942, she obtained a diploma in industrial chemistry and laboratory technique at Technical Institute of Newcastle. Having earned an ambulance driver's certificate, she joined the Australian Forces at the Women's Auxiliary Service during World War II. She was attached to the IVth Army, and raised to the rank of sergeant, she was posted to British XIV Army in Rangoon, Burma in October 1945, and was then transferred to Sumatra in December. After the WWII, she returned to England. On 24 October 1958, she married her fourth and last husband, Cyril William Mann, a bank manager.
She was a prolific writer from 1953 to 1986 under diferent pseudonyms: Vivian Stuart, Alex Stuart, Barbara Allen, Fiona Finlay, V. A. Stuart, William Stuart Long and Robyn Stuart. Many of her novels were protagonized by doctors or nurses, and set in Asia, Australia or other places she had visited. Her romance novel, Gay Cavalier published in 1955 as Alex Stuart got her into trouble with her Mills & Boon editors when she featured a secondary story line featuring a Catholic male and Protestant female who chose to marry. This so-called "mixed marriage" touched nerves in the United Kingdom.
In 1960, she was a founder of the Romantic Novelists' Association, along with Denise Robins, Barbara Cartland, and others; she was elected the first Chairman (1961-1963). In 1970, she became the first woman to chair Swanwick Writers' Summer School.
Violet Vivian Finlay Porch Santow Stuart Mann passed away on August 1986 in Yorkshire, at age 72. She continued writing until her death.
Violet Vivian Finlay was born on 2 January 1914 in Berkshire, England, UK, the daughter of Alice Kathleen (née Norton) and Sir Campbell Kirkman Finlay. Her father was the owner and director of Burmah Oil Company Ltd., whose Scottish family also owned James Finlay and Company Ltd. The majority of her childhood and youth was spent in Rangoon, Burma (now also known as Myanmar), where her father worked. During her life, she frequently journeyed between India, Singapore, Java and Sumatra.
Although Vivian is well-known by the surname of Stuart, she married four times during her lifetime, and had five children: Gillian Rushton (née Porch), Kim Santow, Jennifer Gooch (née Stuart), and twins Vary and Valerie Stuart.
Following the dissolution of her first marriage, she studied for a time Law in London in the mid 1930s, before decided studied Medicine at the University of London. Later she spent time in Hungary in the capacity of private tutor in English, while she obtained a pathologist qualification at the University of Budapest in 1938. In 1939, she emigrated to Australia with her second husband, a Hungarian Doctor Geza Santow with whom she worked. In 1942, she obtained a diploma in industrial chemistry and laboratory technique at Technical Institute of Newcastle. Having earned an ambulance driver's certificate, she joined the Australian Forces at the Women's Auxiliary Service during World War II. She was attached to the IVth Army, and raised to the rank of sergeant, she was posted to British XIV Army in Rangoon, Burma in October 1945, and was then transferred to Sumatra in December. After the WWII, she returned to England. On 24 October 1958, she married her fourth and last husband, Cyril William Mann, a bank manager.
She was a prolific writer from 1953 to 1986 under diferent pseudonyms: Vivian Stuart, Alex Stuart, Barbara Allen, Fiona Finlay, V. A. Stuart, William Stuart Long and Robyn Stuart. Many of her novels were protagonized by doctors or nurses, and set in Asia, Australia or other places she had visited. Her romance novel, Gay Cavalier published in 1955 as Alex Stuart got her into trouble with her Mills & Boon editors when she featured a secondary story line featuring a Catholic male and Protestant female who chose to marry. This so-called "mixed marriage" touched nerves in the United Kingdom.
In 1960, she was a founder of the Romantic Novelists' Association, along with Denise Robins, Barbara Cartland, and others; she was elected the first Chairman (1961-1963). In 1970, she became the first woman to chair Swanwick Writers' Summer School.
Violet Vivian Finlay Porch Santow Stuart Mann passed away on August 1986 in Yorkshire, at age 72. She continued writing until her death.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 30, 2024
I love this series and am currently reading it for the second time. You’ll enjoy it too. It is now available on ebook and audio book, so it’s easier than ever to enjoy.
January 13, 2025
I am listening to the Audible series of Vivian Stuart "The Australians" narrated, rather, performed by
Simon Slater. It is a wonderful series, Intelligent, educational, entertaining & suspenseful. Begins in England and continues for the rest of the series predominantly in Australia with the first convicts settling in the area.
I don't know if I would've picked the series without recommendation. I actually discovered it while searching for new books performed by Simon Slater. I immediately snapped up every book in the series, fortuitously on sale in December.
Stories are generational, with politics, history, and romance. I learned so much about boats, ships and sailing. I am giving a general review of what I've read so far up to book 7, but each book evolves the story and the history of the characters from book one of course, with additions of others along the way. Capt. Bligh of "the Mutiny and the Bounty" figures prominent in book 6-7. This series gets my full recommendation.. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this series!
Simon Slater. It is a wonderful series, Intelligent, educational, entertaining & suspenseful. Begins in England and continues for the rest of the series predominantly in Australia with the first convicts settling in the area.
I don't know if I would've picked the series without recommendation. I actually discovered it while searching for new books performed by Simon Slater. I immediately snapped up every book in the series, fortuitously on sale in December.
Stories are generational, with politics, history, and romance. I learned so much about boats, ships and sailing. I am giving a general review of what I've read so far up to book 7, but each book evolves the story and the history of the characters from book one of course, with additions of others along the way. Capt. Bligh of "the Mutiny and the Bounty" figures prominent in book 6-7. This series gets my full recommendation.. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this series!
June 25, 2023
Oplæser: Jesper Bøllehuus. Virkelig god!
Bind 2 i Serien om Australien - og hvilken god serie.
Englænderne havde brug for et sted at sende straffefanger til da fængselsvæsenet var ved at drukne i tyve, mordere og det der var værre. Og så var det jo oplagt at sende disse uønskede mennesker om på den anden side af jorden.
Det er dog ikke nemt at starte en ny koloni, i et land hvor alt skal bygges fra bunden. Landet er ugæstfrit. Befolkningen tager ikke ligefrem imod de fremmede med åbne arme. Og så er der jo straffefangerne! Tyve og mordere, der ikke ligefrem har lært at arbejde og som hellere vil drikke, skulle fra arbejdet eller søge efter friheden.
Utrolig spændende og jeg glæder mig til næste afsnit af historien.
Bind 2 i Serien om Australien - og hvilken god serie.
Englænderne havde brug for et sted at sende straffefanger til da fængselsvæsenet var ved at drukne i tyve, mordere og det der var værre. Og så var det jo oplagt at sende disse uønskede mennesker om på den anden side af jorden.
Det er dog ikke nemt at starte en ny koloni, i et land hvor alt skal bygges fra bunden. Landet er ugæstfrit. Befolkningen tager ikke ligefrem imod de fremmede med åbne arme. Og så er der jo straffefangerne! Tyve og mordere, der ikke ligefrem har lært at arbejde og som hellere vil drikke, skulle fra arbejdet eller søge efter friheden.
Utrolig spændende og jeg glæder mig til næste afsnit af historien.
August 3, 2023
Den andra delen i Pionjärerna-serien fortsätter på ett starkt sätt, och fokuserar på etableringen av kolonin. Det är spännande att läsa om Jenny Taggarts ansträngningar i kolonin och hennes försök att slå sig fram. Särskilt intressant om man gillar nybyggar-historier. Läsvärd!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews