Vyhnankyně – Baker Kline Christina (2024)

When young naive governess Evangeline becomes pregnant by the son of her wealthy London employer, she has no idea how serious the consequences will be for her. After being falsely accused of theft by a maid, Evangeline is fired from her job and arrested. She learns with horror that she has been sentenced to fourteen years in an Australian penal colony in Van Diemen's Land, present-day Tasmania. She doesn't know what awaits her, but one thing is certain: the child she carries will be born during the months-long voyage. The only stroke of luck is that on the ship, Evangeline befriends sixteen-year-old Hazel, a skilled midwife and herbalist. By the time the ship arrives at its destination, many local inhabitants, Aborigines, have been violently uprooted from their natural environment, and some are forced to integrate into the society of British colonizers. One such is eight-year-old Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been 'adopted' by the new governor of Van Diemen's Land. Christina Baker Kline depicts the beginnings of colonialism in Australia from a new perspective through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna, while simultaneously telling a story of grace born from suffering, of indestructible bonds of female friendship, and of the power of legacy...