Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
A RAW LAND DRENCHED IN BLOOD, PASSION, AND DREAMS...

The third book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of a country built on blood, passion, and dreams.

England sends convicts to Australia, but among them, there are hard-working men and women who wish to create a new life for themselves. The same desire is shared by those who are free — but it will be a gruelling fight for survival.
And the strong, young, and stubborn Jenny Taggart does not give up ...

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.

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2022

23 people are currently reading
26 people want to read

About the author

Vivian Stuart

87 books12 followers
See 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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
36 (33%)
4 stars
44 (41%)
3 stars
22 (20%)
2 stars
4 (3%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
60 reviews
July 23, 2025
Good Stuff but has issues

Author has written content that not only provides historical material but events and personalities of interest.
I do though feel the author devotes excessive text to describing mental and conscious feelings.
I would also express my concerns with Jenny’s constant “gaining on step of success to the two or three acts or events that negative success.
In three books her list of adverse events actions by other greatly out weigh her successes. She’s lost her parents, been jailed, been punished, tried doing good towards others yet those acts resulted in incurring adversity upon her.
I realize the authors intentions to provide readers with an undaunghting person, someone her is steadfast, honest, and morally of the highest degree. I keep reading in the hopes of her having “ her just rewards.” But is it goingvtake all 24 books to achieve this? Give Jenny Tatar a break!
22 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2023
This series seems to be designed to keep going to the next story. The author makes it hard to put down. So good.
1,169 reviews3 followers
July 9, 2023
Oplæser: Jesper Bøllehuus. Han er bare god i denne serie!

Jeg er så glad for, at jeg fandt serien om Australierne. Det er spændende at læse om landets "fødsel", der under ingen omstændigheder kan kaldes for nem.

At fragte et lands mordere, tyve, voldtægtsforbryder og uønskede personer, til den anden side af jorden, og så tro at ved landgang på indtaget jord, at alt går efter bogen, er vist ønskedrømme.

Det er svært at opbygge en ny nation med fulderikker og tyve. Fattigdom og hungersnød er startskuddet på det nye land. Og samlivet med landets oprindelige befolkning er heller ikke gnidningsfrit.

Alligevel lykkes det nogle få, at starte et nyt liv under de vanskelige forhold. Jenny er en af dem der kæmper for en at få et godt liv under de værste omstændigheder. Desværre er andre ude efter hendes lykke, så det er ikke en nem vej hun går.

Glæder mig til næste afsnit af historien.
Profile Image for Sebastian Sampallo.
610 reviews28 followers
August 3, 2023
Ok, nu är jag investerad. Jag börjar verkligen bry mig om kolonisternas väl och ve, och om kolonins överlevnad. Serien börjar närma sig fem stjärnor, men är där inte riktigt ännu.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.