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Savage Utopia
Margaret Tanner
Whiskey Creek Press
April 2008
ISBN#: 978-1-60313-047-9
Historical
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Synopsis:
Sentenced to transportation to Australia, for trying to kill her
incestuous father, Maryanne Watson boards a convict ship. During the journey
she meets and falls in love with an American convict, Jake Smith. Jake hides
a terrible family secret that if it ever saw the light of day, would send
him to the gallows.
When they arrive at the penal colony, she is assigned to Captain Miles
Fitzhugh. After he rapes her she flees for her life. She finally meets up
with Jake who has escaped from a chain gang, gone bush and lives with the
aborigines.
They roam the wilderness together trying to find their utopia. When Maryanne
falls pregnant, Jake, who has a price on his head, risks coming out of
hiding, so he can legally marry her so their child will not be born
illegitimate.
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SRR GRADE: B
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Maryanne Watson is forced to watch her
father rape and torture her younger sister and when the girl finally dies
from the abuse, Maryanne can't keep her temper any longer. When she speaks
out, her step-mother attacks her and though she acts in defense, it is
Maryanne who finds herself on a convict ship bound for Australia.
Ms. Tanner spins a vivid picture of a convicts life in the colonial times.
Her descriptions of the jail, the convict ship, the treatment of the
prisoners are very well detailed, enough to leave the reader cringing in
horror. Maryanne, though at times somewhat whiny, remains strong throughout
her ordeal, clinging to the hope of freedom and civilization and the love of
Jake Smith. Jake starts out as a strong character, though one sometimes
wonders through his brutality why Maryanne holds so tightly to him. He is
many times toeing a line of being completely in love with Maryanne and
rejecting her for her fears, which made me sometimes completely despise the
man.
Savage Utopia is a definite page turner as you follow Maryanne
on her journey through the brutal English justice system, hoping and
despairing with her as she searches for her utopia.
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| ~Reviewed by
Tonie |
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