The Exiles

A Novel

De: Christina Baker Kline

Narrado por: Caroline Lee

An instant New York Times best seller

Optioned for television by Bruna Papandrea, the producer of HBO's Big Little Lies

"A tour de force of original thought, imagination and promise.... Kline takes full advantage of fiction - its freedom to create compelling characters who fully illuminate monumental events to make history accessible and forever etched in our minds." (Houston Chronicle)

The author of the number-one New York Times best seller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in 19th-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas", Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: The child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel - a skilled midwife and herbalist - is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by White colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

©2020 Christina Baker Kline (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Someone to catch you

This is a line near the end of the book. It is a thought that resounds throughout the book as you live through the struggles of several women and children during very difficult times. Circumstances of birth and life can certainly lead to some tragic situations that might be overcome if there is someone who reaches out a hand to you to pull you back up. There was a wonderful sense of history, midwifery, perseverance and love that kept me listening to this book deep into the night. I shed several tears at the end for the beauty of it.

Best of the Best

Though perhaps a bit predictable, the story is important and accessible through this novel. The author did a fine job weaving history with the fictional characters.

As always, Caroline Lee was a magnificent narrator.

Tragic, but triumphant!

I love historical fiction, and even tho this story had a lot of tragedy, it was heartening to see how each character overcame their hardships in their own ways.

Well Written & Performed

This book was sad, but a great listen. Lots of twists and turns. The performance was well done. Don't let this book pass you by.
Connie

Unbelievable Cruelty

England sent many of their convicts to Australia in the 19th Century. In this historical fiction Christina Baker Kline presents the lives of several women that were transported to Australia for minor offenses. It was heartbreaking the ways these women were treated.

The Rings of Life

A beautiful story of a life shaped by many whose circumstances intersected in a spiral of sadness and heartache. Circumstances producing uncommon strength and determination capable of impacting so many for generations to come.

I rarely give all 5 stars

Entertaining characters, setting, plot and narration. Nine more words nine more words nine more words

Intriguing story of survival

The story was so fascinating from beginning to end. Hard to put down. I listened to it on audible which made the characters so real to me. A great piece of historical fiction!

Both good and interesting read

I enjoyed it from beginning to end; appreciating how harsh realities of the time are introduced. It is a very well written and insightful journey into what the Australian exiles and natives faced with the British.

Now I know......

..... why I don’t read fiction! Or at least very rarely do I read it. As a devoted history nut, I long ago internalized, as much as possible from this day and age, the stories of many in the long, very long, history if this society and planet. The reading of some of the narratives, even though fictionalized, have just caused my poor mind sooo much agony! I am an empath to an extent, and tales like this, and many others of this type, cause me so much pain that I have long ago switched to nonfiction.
As to the narrator, she did quite well. The Scots’ accent can be difficult to handle, and I was impressed.
I am considering reading one of this author’s other books.... but first I will have to recover from this one.
Oh, how I wish Evangeline had lived!
...and now, to my book about owls!