South of Darkness cover art

South of Darkness

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

South of Darkness

By: John Marsden
Narrated by: Paul English
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Thirteen-year-old Barnaby Fletch is a bag-and-bones orphan in London in the late 1700s.

Barnaby lives on his wits and ill-gotten gains, on streets seething with the press of the throng and shadowed by sinister figures.

Life is a precarious business. When he hears of a paradise on the other side of the world - a place called Botany Bay - he decides to commit a crime and get himself transported to a new life, a better life.

To succeed, he must survive the trials of Newgate Prison, the stinking hull of a prison ship and the unknown terrors of a journey across the world. And Botany Bay is far from the paradise Barnaby has imagined.

When his past and present suddenly collide, he is soon fleeing for his life - once again. A riveting story of courage, hope and extraordinary adventure.

©2014 John Marsden (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Historical Fiction Fiction
All stars
Most relevant  
The book was clearly read and enjoyed the changes in
Persons the changes in accents. The story was interesting and also sad but that’s what happened to the poor The people of power always misused it

Review of south of darkness

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic story painting a great picture of many stages of the convict life and early australia.
I initially found the reader difficult to listen to and found it distracting from the story but once i became used to it, it added to the telling of the story.

An epic tale!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this book very satisfying on all fronts. It's a lovely story of a young English boy who goes to New South Wales in the late 1700's, is historically accurate in broad detail and shares the beauty of Scriptural passages along with the contemplations of Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress and writings of Alexander Pope. The only negative was the fairly abrupt ending.
I really enjoyed it and will look out for a sequel. Paul English reads so very well.

I loved this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s not Marsden’s best work but it’s still an awesome tale of a young poor kid from England and how he gets to Australia.

I wanted less time in England, more time on the boat and better writing with the aboriginals.

But the main character is very likeable, I did wish the reader gave him more of a child’s voice.

A good quick read.

Lovely Aussie “first settler” Tale

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It meandered along with no real gripping moments... the ending was too cheesy and I didn't really get a feel of Australia about it. A few amusing moments on the streets and in the church but dragged out..

South of Darkness

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.