Almost one year ago I arrived in this colony on
board an English transport. I am to leave on board a French Discovery
ship... In the Geographe's Great Cabin, glass-cased insects and
plant specimens cluttered every nook and cranny. At the long oak table
the Commander sat writing in the ship's log. The black flourishing of
his words, strange mark on mark, were imaginings of a journey I could
not fathom.
Mary Beckith, convicted for
theft, is transported for life to the colony of New South Wales. She is
determined to take charge of her own destiny by whatever means she can.
But she does not reckon on the most powerful people in the colony making
decisions that will alter her life forever.
Her fate is to be
linked to two extraordinary explorers–Nicholas Baudin and Matthew
Flinders–and their marvellous voyages of discovery on board the
Geographe.