The Wreck - Meg Keneally
About the book
1820, London.
Sarah McCaffrey, fleeing arrest for her part in a failed rebellion, finds herself alone and on the run. She boards the Serpent, bound from London to the colony of New South Wales - and when the captain's reckless actions lead the ship to be dashed onto Sydney's notorious rocks, Sarah is the only survivor.
Adopting a false identity, Sarah determines to make a new life for herself. She takes the first work she can find, under the formidable Molly Thistle, who runs a sprawling trade empire. Sarah begins to see that there is more than one way of changing the world, but her new life is thrown into chaos when her past follows her across the seas.
About the author
Meg Keneally worked as a public affairs officer, sub-editor, freelance feature writer, reporter, and talkback radio producer, before co-founding a financial service public relations company, which she then sold after having her first child. For more than ten years, Meg has worked in corporate affairs for listed financial services companies and doubles as a part-time SCUBA diving instructor. She is co-author with Tom Keneally of The Soldier's Curse and The Unmourned, the first two books in The Monsarrat Series. Fled is her first solo novel. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two children.
Discover more about the book and author
Listen to this The Viewpoint’s podcast with Meg Keneally.
Read this interview with Meg Keneally.
Watch Meg Keneally speak at the Yarra Valley Writers Festival in this video.
Our Librarian’s Review
Reviewed by Lindsay
Meg Keneally takes us back to the early 19th Century in this historical fiction tale of adventure and rebellion. Sarah McCaffrey lives in Manchester and her family attends the peaceful protest for rights and votes which becomes the Peterloo massacre of 1819. What happens here has a profound personal effect on Sarah’s life, seeing her head to London with a fierce determination to fight for the rights of the ordinary man, and woman. After a dramatic turn of events in the rebellion she is involved with, Sarah becomes a wanted woman, then a stowaway on a ship bound for Australia, where the next part of her life begins, experiencing life in the colony, forming friendships. Though further plot is revealed in the book’s synopsis, I’d say it’s perhaps worth avoiding that if you can so that more of the events are a surprise to be unveiled as you read.
I felt drawn in to this plot-driven story from the start, I loved the idea behind it, the strong-willed female main character and her determination to try and bring about change, and the character development as she learns that there’s more than one way of doing this. There were some engaging minor characters Sarah encounters along the way. There’s some interesting insight into England during this period, although I would have liked a bit more historical detail at times, and to have felt a stronger connection to the characters. The story offers much for a book club to discuss.