Janeen Ann O'Connell

London, 1811 Chained below deck, 18-year-old James Tedder listens to the sobs of his fellow prisoners. Putting his hand over his nose to filter the vile smells, James wonders how life on the other side of the world could ever be worth living. London, 1812 Sarah Blay watches the convict ship...

When Catherine Tedder’s husband dies suddenly in September 1822, she is left alone with two small girls, Margaret and Sarah. Accepting the proposal of James Blay Jr. sees her trapped in a marriage of convenience - for him. Struggling with the vagaries of her wayward husband, Catherine and the...

With his parents deceased and his older brother deserting his family, William Blay is struggling with insolvency. After selling his farm in New Norfolk, Van Diemen’s Land, William packs up his wife and three daughters and absconds to Port Phillip. But life in the new Colony is dogged by the...

When James Bryan Cullen takes on convict transportee Elizabeth Bartlett in 1796 as a housekeeper, his challenge is to convince her that life on Norfolk Island is worth living. But how do you come back from being wrongly accused of a crime, then exiled to the other side of the world? He is 32...