Kev (Ric) Richardson Website : List of Novels

5 novels on convict history (to read a synopsis, please click a book icon)

Gurrewa... (finalist in the quest for the world's best historical eBook of 2002) tells the brutal shame of a new nation's founding, the plight of convicts, and of Aborigines facing the terrible realisation that their heritage is crumbling.

Author Kev Richardson has caught the flavor and pure awfulness of the time about which he writes. His characters are well drawn and believable. Without hesitation I recommend this story to anyone who likes historical or mainstream tales.
Anne K. Edwaards, eBooks Reviews Weekly

5++ Stars !
I wept for Adam Ashby.
Not because he lived such a degrading despairing life as a lowly convict, but because he had finally discovered acceptance and respect by the Aborigines of New South Wales only to be shot down by his own people. He had bolted into the wilds rather than be flogged for his latest crime. This is a poignant story of a boy who in his teens searched for a kind and gentler world where a person could be loved for simply being himself. Instead, he is jailed and thrown in with hardened criminals and military men who greedily seek power over their charges. In spite of what this criminal environment has in store for Adam, he nonetheless survives. Yet it is his searching for empathetic love and respect that carries him into manhood.
JoEllen, Conger Books Reviews (USA)

As of July 2011, apologies that "Gurrewa" is off list pending release of a second edition.

ADAM-Son of Gurrewa (A tale of discovery in New South Wales)

FIVE-STAR AWARD!
Although our hero, Adam Ashby is Kev Richardson's fictionalized convict-birthed character born to an unwed couple, abolted convict and hiscolony wife, this story nonetheless represents the real life history of New South Wales struggles to become more than just an overflow prison for England's criminals. For those of you who miss the history in your Historical reads, you'll not be disappointed in this factional account of Australian history 1790-1820s.
Conger Book Reviews, USA

Letitia Munro (A tale of Australias first white settlement)

Richardson shows poignantly where the Australian free spirit and attitudes to authority stem from. As a glimpse into the times of just over 200 years ago, it is a fine historical record. I enjoyed this work immensely; it should be compulsory reading for all, especially Australians.
Lang Reid, “Chiang Mai Mail” and “Pattaya Mail

5 Star!
Kev Richardson, a 6th generation descendant First Fleeter, continues his authentic historical account about the thousands upon thousands of convicts imprisoned on New South Wales—a land that not even the king himself knew had too little fresh water to drink, or sufficient tillable soil to support the hoards of convicts he sent. Letitia never realized when sentenced for stealing a partial bolt of cloth, that she would become a memorable part of Australian history. It's like no history I've ever read. The voice in this work carries the reader right into the trying times of convict life. I found this book an informative account, written the way I like to read history. Richardson makes you live the part of the suffering and struggles of the times. I highly recommend it.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews, USA

To Plough Van Diemen's Land (Australia's founding convicts spawn a new ethos, a new culture)

5 Star!
Kev Richardson has a way of introducing the reader to each of Letitia Munro’s family, making the history in the late 1700's, and early 1800's come alive.

The Van Diemen's Land name was changed in an effort to hide the social guilt of inhumane suffering, starvation, deliberate brutalities, and unpardonable cruelties dealt against prisoners whose misdeeds were often only crimes of desperation in surviving hard times. It was such beginnings that established the convicts loyal code against their captors, formulating the heritage of bonded relationships of today's Australians.

I highly recommend Kev Richardson’s historical tales. He brings history to life.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews, USA

The Terrible Truths (Changing social attitudes haunt the children of Australi's convict founders)

5 Star!
I must agree with Australian historian Kev Richardson, a proud sixth generation & First Fleeter, that denying the terrible truths of convictism and its atrocities, only made today's Australians stronger for knowing how their forebears clung together to cope with intolerance, bigotry, and hypocrisy of the times. I found reading about the true history of the 1800's in Australia, an eye-opener. Here is a modern day author bravely disclosing the terrible truths concealed behind the recorded history of the ancestors transported into a living hell, and how they really lived and loved. I highly recommend this series to all history lovers. This book will open your eyes to the shocking truths behind Australia's hidden past.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews, USA

The Brogan series…

Brogan was born in the drifting sands of corner-country on Australia's desert edge. His story exemplifies the life, trials and tribulations of typical early Australians in the unforgiving outback.

5 Star!
Brogan the boy, was born into a loveless relationship to the man who sired him. He was looked after by whomever his father found to care for him as if he were an unwanted pup. If it hadn't been for Daoud, the old Arab, he might never have lived to become a man.

Some people are born with a higher sense of self-survival than others, and Brogan learned through his hard knocks just how to meet adventure head on. This a very sensitive look at an unwanted boys growing up and surviving to become ‘Brogan the Man.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Brogan. It makes me want to go explore the channel corner-country. What a fascinating part of Australian history!
Karen Babcock ( Managing Editor)

Brogan's Bust continues the adventures of the charismatic Brogan, flying charter in the backstabbing world of gun-running, drug-smuggling intrigue in the Amazonian jungles.

5-Star Award!
BROGAN’S BUST by Kev Richardson is a well crafted, high testosterone, tale of corrupt international trafficking in gems, guns and drugs. In fact, I couldn’t help but wonder how this author knew so much detailed information about the strong-armed men of South America? It all sounds so realistic, as though he's been there, done that and survived
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Brogan's Bella.

5 Star!
Brogan and Bella, en-route from Peru to Australia, are highjacked over the Pacific. Their planned three-week journey takes a fear-filled year.

Brogan is at it again. In Brogan’s Bella by Kev Richardson, Brogan and his aristocratic lady friend, La Dama Isabella Maldonado, are kidnapped in mid-flight to Australia, and find themselves doing whatever they must to survive. I promise you, this book is so full of high adventure and tension it will keep you turning pages, even if you know absolutely nothing about the political situation between Vietnam and France during the 1940's
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Brogan Abroad
Smuggling sex-flesh here caught up in revolution there!

5 Star!
This may not be the same Brogan as Kev Richardson portrayed in his other Brogan stories, but he nonetheless fits the same mold of a devil-may-care adventurer. At first I thought if this Brogan didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all, but then realized that if it hadn't been for his luck he surely would have been robbed of more than just his camera in Africa, gotten nailed as a smuggler of exotic women, or had his throat slashed in a darkened alley. I challenge anyone to put this book down once they start reading. Double dare you!
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Misadventure
When best laid plans erupt into Chaos

5+ Stars!
Once again Brogan is off on a spine-tingling misadventure in South America, the kind that makes you lust to travel with him. Multi-published author Kev Richardson has a way of creating his plots so realistically, you feel you are there. He and his Becky hadn’t counted on kidnapping, armed guards, or drug smuggling This is one love story that will keep you turning pages. A must read.
JoEllen– Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Biographies…

A Welcome War – Finalist in the International Epic Awards for Historical novels published in 2010.

5+ Stars!
Multi-published historical writer, Kev Richardson, has a way of bringing the history of his homeland up front and personal. A Welcome War presents a young lads impressions and compulsion to follow the happenings of World War II. He recounts his personal translation of the war that changed his life. As a young teenager it influenced his future more by military strategy, political power and bathos than by parents or mentors. In discovering history and geography, he finds the lessons graphic indeed: It beats schoolwork, hands down!
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

Gerard Rawes – A Yokel in Savil Row.

5 Stars Award!
Once again multi-published historical writer, Kev Richardson, brings us living history, this time as seen through the eyes of Gerard Rawes, a London tailor for gentlemen, during the Napoleonic Wars and beyond. This author has a way of making history come alive, with a touch of wit woven through the personal accounts of his characters. If you enjoy reading true histories, this author is someone you must read.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

An Epic Life – They travel half the globe to realize a dream, found a dynasty.

5 Stars!
A continuing historical account of this extensive family through the evolving times of the industrial revolution, brought on by the steam engine. Hand crafted train coaches, and the ever spreading spider-web of railroad tracks upon a raw new continent. Richardson has an enchanting way of portraying the reality of living, breathing people behind the facts and dates found in history books. He carries you through the laughter and pathos of a family bent on taking care of their own as they build a proud history. It was an era when family members stuck together through thick and thin… happiness, contentment or grief, determined to survive each new challenge.
JoEllen, Conger Book Reviews (USA)

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