DANGEROUS WOMEN

Alas for the hopes of an ardent young reformer aboard a shipful of women convicts when one of them is attacked.

In April 1841, the Rajah leaves London for Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania). Onboard are nearly 200 women convicted of petty crimes and sentenced to transportation to the other side of the world. With them are Capt. Charles Ferguson, master of the Rajah; a pious but stern clergyman; the jovial ship’s doctor; and the 23-year-old matron of the prisoners, idealistic Kezia Hayter. She hopes to build a community among the women by choosing 18 of them to assemble a quilt to present to their new home’s governor when they arrive. In a series of temporal jumps to and from the past, the near past, and the present of 1841, Kezia’s life and the lives of the convicts—some of whom have known nothing but poverty and degradation, some grieving for the families they had to leave behind, a few who were allowed to bring their children with them—are stitched together. When Hattie Matthews is stabbed, Kezia helps the captain, the parson, and the doctor interview the seven witnesses to the event. Some of them recall Hattie’s fear that she was being watched, others the swatch of fabric in which was embroidered a warning for Hattie to keep silent. What none of the investigators know is that one of the convicts is an imposter who stole the identity of another prisoner in a desperate attempt to escape the gallows. Her fear that someone onboard may recognize her makes her the obvious suspect in what might well yet be a murder—and forces her to turn to the one person who could be her undoing.

A historical episode artfully adapted in a bleak tale that offers glimmers of hope for women discarded by society.