Cheri's Reviews > The Exiles

4.5 Stars

A story centered around the lives of three young women whose lives took drastic turns. This begins on Flinders Island, Australia in 1840, with eight year-old Mathinna hiding in the bush in Wybalenna, where her people had been exiled. It is also where Governor John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, come to visit - along with their servants, of course - and decide that they would like to bring
Mathinna home, ostensibly to instruct her in their more ‘civilized’ lifestyle. They acquire her as one would a trinket, a souvenir to show her off to their friends. Mathinna has no say in this, of course, and is whisked away to a new life, a new land. The Governor and his wife believe she should be grateful for this gesture, with no concerns as to whether or not it is something she desires. They give no thought or care to the fact that she must leave behind her tribe, her family. Her father had been the chief of the Lowreenne tribe, although he had died when she was too young to really remember much. She had been taught by her teacher to read and write, and to eat using proper utensils and Lady Jane thought she could dress her up and show her off to their friends as entertainment - a ’savage’ turned into a ’respectable citizen’.

Evangeline enters this story next, a 21-year-old orphan who is under the illusion that the eldest son of her employer has more than fleeting romantic intentions for their relationship. He has recently left for Venice and has left her with a ruby ring wrapped in his monogrammed handkerchief, and another ‘gift’ which will make an appearance in several months. When the ring is found in her room, she is accused of stealing it, and is sent to Newgate prison.

’Her father wanted to insulate her, to shelter her from harm, and in doing so he denied her the inoculation required to survive. She could name the seven continents and identify the constellations, but she knew little, in a practical sense, about the world beyond her door.’

Hazel, a 16-year-old girl from Glasgow enters next, following her attempted theft of a silver spoon.
She will meet Evangeline as they both end up on a ship set to deliver them, after a four month-long journey, to the convict colony in Tasmania where they will serve their sentences. Fortunately, Hazel’s knowledge of the skills of midwifery and healing will come in handy, as she eventually assists the ship’s surgeon, and Envangeline will help Hazel by teaching her how to read. Once they arrive, however, the Cascades Female Factory awaits, a penal colony where they are destined to serve out their sentences.

This is shared so vividly that it is easy to envision this story, and to feel it all, it is clear that Christina Baker Kline clearly spent many hours, days, months, years researching, and then putting this story together so that it flows seamlessly. It is occasionally gut-wrenching to see and feel these lives interrupted, these women treated as though they are insignificant, and not deserving of basic common decency.

But this story is not without love, even though love has cost them so much in their lives so far, there are moments of love and beauty, sharing a sense of absolution and the saving grace of love in Ruby. Ruby bonds them all in a sacred love they all share for her, she is their redeemer. She allows them to see life through her young eyes, innocent, and for them to be strong enough to protect her from the truth of the ways of the world.

Life is filled with tragedy. One after another it seems of late, and yet there is also evidence of love. This story shares that same sense of tragedy, but also of love being the saving grace through difficult times, and throughout time. It is both a story of another time, and relevant for every era, including ours.

’The Exiles’ will be adapted by Made Up Stories for television series, and I can’t wait to see this story and these characters brought to life!


Many thanks, once again, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!