New South Wales, learns that skill and courage do not stand a chance against prejudice. Bitterness and disappointment are mixed with the wear and tear of his everyday life; all the while shiploads of miserable prisoners and free settlers continue to arrive from a war-weary England. Rebels and outcasts, they fled halfway across the earth to settle the harsh Australian wastelands. Decades later — ennobled by love and strengthened by tragedy — they had transformed a wilderness into a fertile land. And themselves into The Australians. Vivian Stuart was a British writer and during her writing career she had more than 70 books published in Australia, USA and the UK. Born in Berkshire in England, she spent most of her youth in Burma and India, and later lived in Hungary and Australia. At the age of thirty-five she began to write romantic fiction but soon devoted her attention to military and historical novels. The Australians series was her most ambitious venture. Originally envisaged as a series of six books, it was extended to many more by popular demand. “Loved this book. So descriptive, was like a movie playing in my head” ― Goodreads reviewer “This book was a total surprise. The Exiles was the first book I have read for along time which actually made me cry. I love Jenny Taggart and I immediately had to start reading the next in the series to find out what happens next in her desperate and unfortunate life” ― Goodreads reviewer “I'm thoroughly enjoying this historical fiction series about Australia. I'm totally hooked on this series about the founding of Australia by the "dregs of society" in England, mostly around London at the time” ― Goodreads reviewer