Abandoned Women by Lucy Frost
In the early nineteenth century, crofters and villagers streamed into the burgeoning cities of Scotland, and families splintered. Orphan girls, single mothers and women on their own all struggled to feed and clothe themselves. For some, petty theft became a part of life. Any woman deemed 'habite & repute a thief' might find herself before the High Court of Justiciary, tried for yet another minor theft and sentenced to transportation 'beyond Seas'. Lucy Frost memorably paints the portrait of a boatload of women and their children who arrived in Hobart in 1838. Instead of serving time in prison, the women were sent to work as unpaid servants in the houses of settlers. Feisty Scottish convicts, unaccustomed to bowing and scraping, often irritated their middle-class employers, who charged them with insolence, or refusing to work, or getting drunk. A stint in the female factory became their punishment. Many women survived the convict system and shaped their own lives once they were free. They married, had children and found a place in the community. Others, though, continued to be plagued by errors and disasters until death.
'Her superb research and sympathetic reconstructions of 19th century Scotland and Australia bring to life a long-forgotten but fascinating group of women' - Sian Rees, author of The Floating Brothel.
Lucy Frost has spent a career researching and writing about nineteenth-century women. She is the author of No Place for a Nervous Lady and other books on women's experience.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781742377605 |
| ISBN 10 | 1742377602 |
| Title | Abandoned Women |
| Author | Lucy Frost |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
| Year published | 2012-02-01 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Prizes | Commended for Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards - FAW Excellence in Non-fiction Award 2012 (Australia), Commended for Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards - Sid Harta Award 2012 (Australia), Short-listed for Manning Clark House Cultural Awards 2013 (Australia) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |