|
5 novels on convict history (to read synopses, click icons)
|
|
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. Edwards, eBook 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)
|
| |
|
 |
|
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, a ‘bolted’ convict and his ‘colony 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 Australia’s 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 Australia’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 Da’oud, 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 boy’s 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.
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)
|
|
|
 |
A Welcome War…
5 Star!
Multi-published
historical writer, Kev Richardson, has a way of bringing the history of
his homeland, Australia, up front and personal. In this latest work I
was notably impressed with his astute presentation of a young
lad’s impressions and compulsion to follow the happenings of
World War II. From a ten year old’s impassioned sense of wonder,
to his later assessments, as a young man of eighteen, he recounts his
personal translation of the war that changed his life. The book
includes many captivating memories from his younger years, and his
recorded impressions of the exciting historical happenings of war.
JoEllen Conger, Conger Book Reviews, USA
|
|
|
|
Where to purchase? See the following
|
 |
|
