The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story Of An Eighteenth-Century Ship And Its Cargo Of Female Convicts » (1ST)

In July 1789, two hundred and thirty-seven women convicts left England for Sydney Cove in Australia's New South Wales on board a ship called the Lady Julian. Historian Sian Rees delved into court documents, letters, and journals to extract firsthand accounts of the women's experiences on board a ship that both held them prisoner and offered them refuge from their oppressive existence in London. Forced by the economy of the times to beg, steal, and sell themselves, the women of the Lady Julian defined resourcefulness, and set up profitable businesses in their various ports of call. This is the rollicking and exhaustively researched story of that extraordinary group of women and their voyage halfway around the world.

Daily Mail

This wonderfully vivid book, beautifully written . . . will stay in my mind for many months.