User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
After finishing this heartbreaking, moving, thought provoking novel which truly shakes you to the core, only thing on my mind is going to National Gallery of Australia for seeing the giant quilt created by these women hanging on the wall.
The book is created based on true stories of 180 women who were convicted mostly from petty crimes and released from prison to set sailed to Rajah/ Tasmania: a historical vessel for starting a new life. There are also 10 children on the board. And in this fiction version one of the women is murderer because there is attempted murder mystery added into story : one of the women was stabbed.
But this book’s genre is closer to women’s fiction/ historical fiction than thriller and mystery genres. There are such great, realistic portraits of women who were reluctantly found themselves in criminal world and they did what they had to do for surviving. The circumstances pushed them make wrong choices. They were just the unlucky women who were dealt with the shittiest hands. It was so easy to resonate with those flawed, heartbroken, tired characters who deserve second chances. You can feel their miseries, anger, sadness, resentments, fears. The author did a great job to combine different women stories harmoniously.
I read so many articles to define the fiction and real life events of this journey. Royal Navy Surgeon James Donovan and minister Rev. Roland Davies were truly on the for sailing to Rajah in 1841 as it is mentioned on the book. Kezia Hayter, 23 years old is also based on true character, who accompanied the women through their journey.
It was one of the heartbreaking, well researched, intriguing historical fiction with soul crushing real life women stories! It’s touchy, poignant, truly well written which deserves my four Australian, true story, sad, powerful stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
Rating: really liked it
"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." - Ephesians 4:28 This book blends fiction and history to tell the story of the Rajah convict ship and its voyage in 1841 taking English female convicts to Tasmania - then Van Diemen's Island.
Here is a list of the real convicts aboard:
https://www.hawkesbury.net.au/claimac...
One hundred eighty Englishwomen board the Rajah in London, 1841. The women have committed petty crimes and are on a three-month voyage to Australia (Tasmania) where they will now reside. Most of their crimes were a result of doing what they needed to do to survive, to pay the bills, to defend themselves and feed their children. But there is one among them who has committed a more serious crime. One who will do anything to survive.
While on board the ships matron, Kezia Hayter has the women make a quilt called the Raja Quilt. It is now housed in the National Gallery of Australia. Can you imagine doing needlework on board a ship? I can barely put needle to thread on solid ground, I cannot imagine doing it while the ship rides the waves but that is what they did.
Toward the middle of the voyage Hattie, a young mother is mortally wounded. Someone on the ship is responsible, but who? As the women begin to be questioned, they also have questions themselves about their own safety, who might have reason to harm Hattie, and what will happen when they reach shore.
Hope Adams does a good job showing what life was like for the women onboard: cramped uncomfortable conditions, bad food, unhygienic conditions, seasickness, having to get along with others, secrets, missing their family and homes, being suspicious of their fellow convicts and unwanted attention (and sometimes wanted attention) from the sailors.
I appreciated that she gave the chapter headers, so we knew what character's POV was being given and when. Through the various POV's we learn more about the characters, their pasts, what lead them to be on board the Rajah and what they are doing in their present time of 1841.
Some of the characters in this book are based on the real-life people on board the Rajah, the author changed some of the convict’s names and others are a work of fiction. I enjoyed the story but also felt it could have been pared down a little in the middle. Hope Adams did her research and yet again I have learned a new piece of history from reading a book!
An interesting piece of work - the quilt and the book.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
See more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
Rating: really liked it
First time author Hope Adams has a real winner in her debut historical fiction/mystery novel, Dangerous Women. This book is set in 1841 and follows the fates of 180 women who are being transported on the boat, Rajah, from jails in England to Van Diemen’s Land, which is present day Tasmania.
The trip takes 15 weeks and is told through the eyes of 3 or 4 main characters, as they recount the trip, as well as a stabbing assault that takes place upon the boat during this crossing. The book begins with the assault and then chapters go back and forth (titled conveniently as Then or Now), telling tales on how and why some of the ladies got to be part of the prisoner transport, as well as trying to solve the stabbing before arriving at Hobart.
What ties so much of this together is a sewing group that Matron Kezia Hayter establishes from Day One. The group is sewing a quilt that will be presented to the Governor of Van Diemen’s Land upon their arrival, and it is through this group of ladies that the stories unfold. None who are transported are supposed to have been convicted of murder, and yet one of these ladies has slipped through onto the Rajah. We can also sympathize with many of these convicts since their life situations placed them in a position that they had to commit criminal acts just to survive.
In addition to the ladies, the book also follows Matron Hayter, the ship’s captain Charles Ferguson, along with the ships physician and priest. These male characters come to the fore during the investigation as to the stabbing, while the victim lies in a coma. Was the attacker one of the ladies of the sewing group, one of the other convicts, or could it have been one of the sailors?
Throughout the book we get to view Matron Hayter as the rock that all these ladies rely upon, and we see the changes brought about due to the sewing circle and Hayter’s belief in forgiveness and compassion.
But first and foremost this is a compelling mystery, all wrapped around a group of lady convicts who are headed to an unknown future in a land they know nothing about. How could someone get ahold of a knife, what drove that person to the attack, and how can such an incident be solved when every woman on the boat is a convict which can lead to many suspects and also many lies and denials of acts on board.
History plays a main focus in this book, as the author has blended historical characters with a group of fictional ladies. There are dangerous women living in cramped quarters for 15 weeks. Nerves fray, alliances form, and love blooms in this fast paced, well written novel. This is a great page-turner that I finished in two days.
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with a free Advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. This review was first posted at mysteryandsuspense.com
Rating: really liked it
Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com
Dangerous Women is a fascinating story that blends a wonderful fictional story based on real historical events. In 1841 the Rajah convict ship set sail from London, UK to Tasmania, Australia, or as it was known back then, Van Diemen’s Land with 180 convicted criminal women onboard.
Whilst on their 105-day long journey some of the women began a sewing group and made a quilt, known as The Rajah Quilt which can be viewed online as it is still on show at The National Gallery of Australia.
Author Hope Adams has blended this real-life story and created a murder mystery in which one of the women shouldn’t have been there as she took the place of another passenger and another of the women, young Hattie, is murdered just over half-way through their journey, stabbed to death, leaving a young son behind.
The book is engrossing as no-one knows who the murderer is and an investigation is set up to try to find them, but everyone starts to suspect one another and new friendships become strained. As well as the mystery I loved the factual aspect of the Rajah, a ship I’d never heard of before. I knew about convicts being sent to Australia but nothing more.
The story began quite slowly and at the beginning, I had to make myself stick with it as I knew that the story would pick up. It is also written in two close-together timelines, ‘Then’ and ‘Now’. Both time periods give you the date, with the ‘Now’ also telling you how many days at sea the ship has been sailing. Plus we get to hear from the different women on the ship, including the Matron, the only female not a convict on board, Kazia Hayter, based on a real person of the same name.
The women and their stories all felt so real, so did their sorrow at leaving loved ones behind, knowing that for some of them they would never see their families again as there was no coming back from Australia. It is a remarkable book that once I had gotten through the first few chapters and worked out who each woman was I became engrossed and mesmerised by each of their stories as well as a need to know why Hattie had been murdered and would there be more killings.
Rating: really liked it
The Rajah Quilt. It's mere existence is an enduring witness to the sisterhood that was established on this voyage from England to Van Diemen's Island in 1841. Nearly 200 female convicts are being sent to what is now Tasmania. These were women who had all been convicted of petty theft and other crimes not deemed worthy of capital punishment. A young woman named Kezia Hayter volunteers to be a matron on the ship for free passage. The Rajah Quilt was her vision and it was accomplished. An amazing feat. I cannot imagine doing my cross stitch projects on the deck of a ship on the high seas. In addition to highlighting the quilt, Hope Adams also gives us a mystery to solve. Many of the women have secrets. Is one of them willing to kill to keep hers? For a debut combining the genres of historical fiction and mystery, I thought this was exceedingly well done. The fabric descriptions before the chapters were intriguing. I do wish we could have seen a graphic as well. In the end, this book shows the amazing things women can accomplish together. It is also a story of redemption in more ways than one. If you love this, don't miss 'The Exiles' by Christina Baker Kline which features a similar voyage on the Medea. For those who love mysteries at sea, be sure to check out 'The Devil and the Dark Water' by Stuart Turton.
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
Dangerous Women by Hope Adams started out so strong and I was initially gripped by the story! But the middle 60% of this book was too long, slow, scenically dark, one dimensional and frankly, boring. This is a classic "who-done-it" murder mystery but the scene and characters, while they are quite unique, were one dimensional. This story takes place during a 100+ day voyage aboard the Rajah, a massive prisoner transport ship traveling from the UK and Australia. The scenes are dark and drab while taking place below deck or within the confines of a ship. The prisoners are all women and as such the character list is predominantly women - which was great - there was a solid portrayal of strong independent women in a world where that was rare. Many important women's issues were addressed. The back stories were moving and interesting and I loved the unique historical events that this story was built on and this was truly like nothing I've read before. But as a thriller/suspense/murder mystery, it fell flat and moved too slowly.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a copy of this book for review!
Rating: really liked it
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery and Thrillers
Publisher: Berkley
Pub. Date: February 16, 2021
Mini-Review
Let me start off by saying the Adams mixes the genres in this one. This is not the best nor the worst historical fiction that I have read. I always enjoy reading historical facts that reads like fiction, which you will find in this novel. The author takes us back to the year 1841. The story revolves around a true historical event. Approximately, 200 English women, who have been convicted for mostly petty crimes are released from their cells. The government places them on the real-life historical vessel named the “Rajah,” which will take them to Australia to start a new life. Adams does a good job showing us how many of the women were forced into a criminal life for survival. She also nails the dialogue/emotions between her characters on the ship with their bickering, their fears, and sometimes their kindness to one another. On their voyage, they create a real-life giant quilt, which now hangs in the National Gallery of Australia. The author explains that she has seen this Rajah Quilt and it was her inspiration to write this novel. The women received the quilt’s materials from the Ladies Society of England who were promoting the reformation of female prisoners. On the ship, there is a real-life character from this society who organizes the project. In the novel as well as in actuality she ends up marrying the captain—very sweet. The author surely did her research homework. Through the making of the quilt, we feel the women’s sorrows as well as their hopes, while enjoying their newfound friendships. I found all of this captivating. Getting back to the mixing of the genres, at the beginning of the book, on the ship, a young mother is killed. This subplot stays with us throughout the entire story. I did not think it was necessary and actually took away from the story rather than enhancing it. I kept skimming the murder mystery scenes to get back to the fascinating, old-fashioned, straight historical fiction. If the story stayed in that mode and didn’t throw in a “whodunit,” I would have enjoyed “Dangerous Women” so much more than I did.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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Rating: really liked it
This is a richly imagined Victorian mystery, part fiction but also based on true life accounts. A ship load of convicted women are setting sail for Australia, never to return to their homeland again. When one of them is hurt, the hunt is on for the culprit- but everyone is guilty of something. Who can be trusted in such an atmosphere?! The mystery is obviously of the locked room variety as they are aboard a ship and the psychological aspects will keep you thinking- thought provoking! I loved the idea of the quilt they created while on board! An absorbing read! Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
Rating: really liked it
This book is based on a true story about convict women sailing to Tasmania in 1842. It was interesting meeting these women who were not necessarily dangerous - basically they stole things - but because they were convicted of those crimes. Kezia is the female chaperone who gets a group of these women together to make a coverlet, to pass the time of the 105 days on the ship. When one woman is stabbed, the women are looked at being violent, but in the end it was more sorrow and grief. I enjoyed this book, learning about the women and why they were on the ship, their life before being convicted, and how they anticipated life after they landed back on land.
This is a new author to me, I believe her debut, and it was good. I had heard of convicts being sent to Australia to inhabit it, but not really of women convicts being sent there. The research she did was very well done. I would read another of her books again.
4 stars
Rating: really liked it
This book was very mixed for me. Some parts I FLEW through, but then others really dragged and took me a while to get back to the gripping parts.
The start hooked me straight away but seemed to slow down many times and I would lose interest for about 20 pages until it gripped me again.
A really interesting premise and I have researched the Rajan quilt since reading this, which I think is a good sign.
Sadly, this just missed the mark.
Rating: really liked it
I first heard about this book at Henley Literary Festival in 2019 when it was one of the debut novels featured at the Michael Joseph Proof Party, alongside Stephanie Wrobel’s The Recovery of Rose Gold (which I’ve since read and reviewed). At the time, Dangerous Women was due to be published in 2020 under the title Conviction. For various reasons, publication was delayed but the plot of Dangerous Women is largely unchanged from that which the author described at the time. Indeed the passage from the book which Hope read at the event can be found in the final version.
Dangerous Women is inspired by the real life voyage of the Rajah from London to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1841 during which many of the women prisoners, as in the book, worked on the embroidery of an elaborate quilt – now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Although technically sentenced to transportation for a set number of years, for many of the women aboard the Rajah, it will be the last time they see England, leading to heartbreaking scenes as the ship departs. “The ones who have children will yearn for them. The ones who have living parents will fear their deaths, their sicknesses, and being unable to help them.” But it’s not the same for all the women. For Kezia Hayter, who her whole life has felt underappreciated by her mother compared to her sister Henrietta, it’s a chance to forge an independent path in life. Her appointment as Matron on the voyage is also an opportunity to contribute to a cause about which she feels strongly: the welfare and rehabilitation of female prisoners. From the outset Kezia feels sympathy for and a sense of responsibility towards those in her charge, coming to think of them as her women. She goes out of her way to encourage them and to defend them where necessary.
The convicts are perhaps fortunate in that both the captain of the Rajah, Charles Ferguson, and the ship’s surgeon, Mr. Donovan, hold relatively enlightened views. Like Kezia, they are prepared to recognise that circumstances – poverty, abuse, coercion – may have led the women to commit the crimes they have. Clergyman Mr. Davies, on the other hand, subscribes to the less generous view that the cause of the women’s crimes is sinfulness.
For the women chosen by Kezia to work on the patchwork quilt she has designed, it’s not only a means of learning a skill that may benefit them in their new lives but a chance to leave the confines of below decks where the other less fortunate convicts spend their days. It also becomes a shared endeavour. Despite their different backgrounds and life experiences, by the end of the voyage they have become, as the author so imaginatively describes it, “a patchwork of souls”.
Although we’re told the Rajah is transporting one hundred and eighty women, for narrative reasons the reader only really gets to know the eighteen women chosen by Kezia to work on the quilt, and even then only to varying degrees. The plight of the remaining women and the cramped and claustrophobic conditions that must have existed below deck remain largely in the background, except for a vivid scene in which the Rajah encounters a storm. However, within the circle of women working on the quilt, the reader gets to see friendships formed and severed, stories shared and secrets revealed.
A vivid account of an epic voyage, Dangerous Women is also a cleverly constructed “locked room” mystery. As well as trying to work out who might have carried out the vicious attack that takes place early on in the voyage, I enjoyed looking out for clues to the identity of the individual onboard who is not entirely what they seem. To be truthful, the answer to the latter was revealed a little earlier than I expected but that still leaves plenty of dramatic events to unfold. There are revelations that bring redemption for some and unexpected possibilities for others.
Rating: really liked it
Dangerous Women is a richly-imagined and extensively researched Victorian mystery. The novel opens in London where, in the wake of growing crime rates, the government begins to issue increasingly severe punishments for minor infractions. Thousands of men have already been sent to Australia, but now the government turns its attention to women of marriageable age. These women have no choice, and most will never return to England. Eighteen of the women become quilters on the Rajah convict ship sailing for what is now known as Tasmania in Australia from England in the spring of 1841. The group is among nearly 200 women convicts who are being sent to Van Diemen’s Land to serve out sentences for petty crimes, including Hattie Matthews and her son Bertie, and Clara Shaw, the woman who has taken another’s identity. Among the women are Captain Charles Ferguson, master of the Rajah; a pious but stern clergyman; and the cheery ship’s doctor. The quilt is the project planned by the matron for the voyage, 23-year-old Kezia Hayter, who seeks to teach the women skills they may use to support themselves on their release. It is intended to be presented to Jane Franklin, wife of the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land on arrival. After weeks at sea, peace is broken when a prisoner is mortally stabbed. Trapped in the middle of the ocean, with a killer on board, a fraught investigation ensues. But as the truth behind the convicts’ original crimes comes to light, one question looms large. If everyone on the 'Rajah' is guilty of something, can anyone be trusted?
Part mystery, part inquiry, Dangerous Women is a riveting read, tracking Kezia and the ship’s officers as they interview the seven witnesses to the bludgeoning, with some recalling Hattie being fearful as she had received a warning to keep silent stitched into a square on fabric, and piece together the details surrounding the knife attack that left Hattie bleeding and unconscious on deck and gradually revealing the story that Clara has been hiding. The narrative is also deeply personal in its descriptions of the convict women, their past histories, their adjustments to living onboard a sailing ship, and their connections with one another as they stitch together fabric into a unified whole. Blending the authentic history of HMS Rajah and fictional embellishment in the form of a locked room-esque mystery, I was enrossed throughout. Exploring confinement, hope, and the terrible things we do to survive, this is a stunning debut from Hope Adams. It is a devastating and thought-provoking account of some of the most vulnerable women in history–women failed by society, their family and the law. The more we discover about these women and their lives before imprisonment, the more unputdownable the novel becomes. This is historical crime at its finest and most captivating—tackling modern themes of guilt, innocence and female agency by exploring a remarkable real-life event. It is a deft piece of fiction that interrogates as much as it entertains; an absorbing, visceral read about female anger, subservience and ultimately, strength. Highly recommended.
Rating: really liked it
YESSS. I love a well researched historical fiction so this was a massive hit for me. I knew nothing of the Rajah quilt before this book and have been thoroughly entranced by the story of it - I cant wait to do my own research into it now!
The story itself is a great page turner, I felt that it moved at a really nice pace and the fictional aspect of the plot was exciting and a great murder mystery that kept me guessing throughout. A real joy to read. 5/5.
Rating: really liked it
Headlines:Suspense on the seas
Desperation
Emotive
Gritty themes
The cover of this book swept me away initally, followed by the synopsis. Reading the book totally lived up to my hopes and expectations. I would categorise this as a historical suspense. Its strengths partially lie in the fact that this story context is reality, the voyage of convicts being transported and occupying themselves by making a quilt. The other strength was the execution, the writing that transported me along with the passengers of the ship.
The story was told from the POV of the ship’s ‘matron’ Kezia, a 23 year old women of respectable background, there to oversee the female convicts on their way to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). There were other POVs of some of the prominent convict characters. There was a stabbing some weeks into the journey (this is the the blurb, no spoiler here) and much of the story I spent speculating and getting it wrong.
This was very much a women’s book, about women, for women, understanding women of that era However, these women were ever at the mercy of men and it wasn’t set in a time where women were empowered so I wouldn’t necessarily call this a feminist read. However Kezia did have her moments of assertion among the leading men of the ship.
This was a compelling tale, with twists and turns. Ship life had all the smells, hardship and difficulty you might imagine but the description enhanced your sense of these womens’ existence. I would have loved an epilogue of what happened to these women after they got to their destination. I wanted to know if they really got their new chance.
We’re many small pieces, each of us different but now stitched together. A patchwork of souls.If you love historical reads and/or if you love suspenseful reads, Dangerous Women will not disappoint. There are triggers in here for some and please check out other reviews or message me if you want details.
Thank you to Michael Joseph Books for the review copy.
Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.
Rating: really liked it
In 1841, 180 women convicted of different crimes got transported from UK to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on board of a ship - The Rajah - to provide them a clean slate so they can start a new life. And on this very ship, these women created one of the most important and intriguing historical artifacts of Australia: The Rajah Quilt.
Dangerous Women tells the story of this extraordinary journey and the making of the quilt with a fictional blood-curdling murder committed on board. This mysterious crime raises questions about the women and their safety as the murder is investigated by the captain and other members of the crew in the middle of the ocean. As the long sea journey closes to an end, the mystery unveils itself and the quilt remains to be the only tangible link to this fantastic voyage.
I really enjoyed reading this intriguing crime fiction based on historical facts, recommended for everyone who loves historical fiction and women’s fiction in general.
