from well over two hundred sources.”[1] The appendix lists ninety primary references and includes a discussion of “Fact or Fiction?” by chapter that tries to anticipate readers’ questions.

[3] In 1787, Scottish marine Lieutenant Nathaniel Armstrong is in charge of convicts on one of the eleven ships sent in the First Fleet to voyage from England to the other side of the world to establish a British penal colony.

Together, they nearly starve in Sydney Cove while learning to farm the harsh land and deal with the Aborigines, who suffer from the Europeans' diseases and unequal warfare.

Midwest Book Review is typical in recommending the epic historical novel for “telling the story of individuals finding love where they least expect it, coping with their troubled convict heritage, the plagues of racism, and struggles with the indigenous people who truly own the continent.

The story is often told through the words and thoughts of the first five governors of New South Wales: Arthur Phillip, John Hunter, Philip Gidley King, William Bligh, and Lachlan Macquarie.

The principal Aboriginal historical figures Arabanoo, Bennelong, Pemulwuy, and Colebee were all real people as were the secondary Indigenous Australians: Nanbaree, Booroong, Yemmerrawanne, Gooroobaroobooloo, Tedbury, and Bungaree.