book review of exiles

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Jane Harper captures a slice of Australia in her Aaron Falk series

With ‘exiles,’ her latest in the falk trilogy, harper again uses crime stories to explore the troubles of life down under.

A murky, unsolved crime in the past; an Australian setting so dramatic it’s almost a character in itself; a tall, thin Melbourne federal agent with close-cropped, white-blond hair and invisible eyelashes: These are the hallmarks of Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk mysteries.

With the publication of “ Exiles ,” Harper has completed the Falk trilogy, which began in 2017 with “ The Dry .” In that novel we met Falk, then 36, working in the financial division of the Australian Federal Police. That makes sense, since Harper was coming to thriller-writing from a business reporting beat at the Herald Sun in Melbourne. Falk was back in “ Force of Nature ,” published in 2018. Harper then wrote a couple of books off-series — “ The Lost Man ” in particular built her audience in the United States.

While it’s not critical to read the three Falk books in order, it greatly enhances the experience. “Exiles” is set six years after the events of “The Dry,” for instance, and revolves around a friendship established in the earlier book. “The Dry” was set in Kiewarra, a fictional farming community in regional Victoria, five hours from Melbourne. The title refers to the drought raging in the area, sucking the life out of the local economy, creating the imminent threat of wildfire and driving everyone a bit mad. The scorching heat and its effects are never off the page for very long; environment and weather are always key players in Harper’s work.

This area is where Falk grew up and where he returns in “The Dry” under grisly circumstances: His childhood best friend, Luke, has shot his wife and child and then himself, leaving their younger baby wailing in her crib. Or perhaps there’s some other explanation for the deaths. Falk’s homecoming is hardly a happy one, as he and his father were railroaded out of town when he was a teenager after the death of Falk’s girlfriend under mysterious circumstances.

Harper established right away that Falk was no debonair James Bond type, but he is a thoughtful, compassionate man. (With the handsome, dark-eyed Australian actor Eric Bana playing Falk in the film version of “The Dry” and the forthcoming “Force of Nature,” the unprepossessing element of Falk’s persona doesn’t seem to have survived the transition to the screen.) He’s unmarried and a bit of a loner, though quite happy to fall into a friendship with Greg Raco, the personable local policeman on the case, and his pregnant wife, Rita. Raco is relatively new to the town, so he relies on Falk to clarify the knotted, nasty backstories and attitudes of the locals. Drought-related despair is running so high that many people seem to view Luke’s act with as much pity as blame.

In “Force of Nature,” Harper sends Falk to the wild Giralang Mountains, another fictionalized but quintessentially Australian location. The crime in the past this time is a notorious set of serial killings in the mountains 20 years earlier. Though the killer died in jail, one victim’s body was never found, and his son may still be on the loose. Nonetheless, a Melbourne boutique accountancy firm has chosen the area for a team-building retreat. Falk and his new partner, Carmen, are already in touch with one of the women in the group, a whistleblower named Alice Russell who has documents that prove her bosses have been involved in money laundering for generations. The five women sent into the woods for the retreat come back late, drenched, bloody, snakebit and down one member — Alice has disappeared.

“Force of Nature” ends with Falk phoning up Greg Raco to make a plan for a hike in the Giralang, and the friendship with Raco sets up the situation in “Exiles,” the new book, billed as the last of the series. In a prologue, Falk is on the way with Raco to a fictional part of South Australian wine country, the Marralee Valley, to stand as godfather at the christening of Raco and Rita’s second child, Henry. The baby Rita was pregnant with in “The Dry” is now 5, and though the family still lives in Kiewarra, Marralee is where Raco grew up and where his brother Charlie runs the family winery. The christening was to be held over the same weekend as the local wine and produce festival, a state-fair-type event that makes it a perfect time to visit the area.

But the first night of the fair, Charlie Raco’s ex-wife Kim, now remarried, parked her new baby’s pram under the Ferris wheel, then disappeared. The search consumed the next few days, and the christening was postponed.

Chapter 1 opens one year later. Kim was never found, though one of her white sneakers turned up stuck in the dam by the reservoir. Some people believe she may have taken her own life. One person who definitely doesn’t go for that theory is Zara, the 17-year-old daughter Kim had with Charlie. Zara’s made up a “Have you seen me?” flier to distribute at the fair. (Connoisseurs will note that there’s always a missing-person flier in an Aaron Falk mystery.) Others believe there may be some connection between a hit-and-run five years earlier, and though the local cop thinks they’re dreaming, Falk doesn’t rule it out.

For the first time, Harper gives Falk a love interest: Gemma, the festival director, widowed five years earlier by that unsolved hit-and-run. She and Falk already know there’s a spark between them — they met in Melbourne a while back when both were supposed to see Raco for a drink and he never showed. Well, that was then, this is now. By the time of the christening, Falk has a brief fantasy that he and Gemma are in that church for another reason.

But what happened to Kim Gillespie? In such a tightknit community, how does a person just disappear? Though she makes a point of careful plotting and neatly tied-up threads, Harper’s books are as much about Australian society and the pressures and dangers of the country’s landscape as they are about finding missing people and solving murders. Social issues like domestic abuse, addiction and bullying play a significant role in her plots, and “Exiles” is no exception. The ability to spot subtle warning signs of a troubled soul is probably Falk’s greatest gift as an investigator, leading him to look for answers about Kim’s fate very close to home.

By Jane Harper

Flatiron. 368 pp. $27.99

A previous version of this story incorrectly said that Gemma, a character in “Exiles,” had been selected as Zoe’s godmother. It also misstated the character whose christening Aaron Falk was attending in that book. This story has been updated.

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‘Exiles’ Review: An Immersive Mystery Novel Underwhelms

A sleepy vineyard in the lush Australian wine country; a mysterious disappearance; a tight-knit community with more than a few secrets ready to come to light. “Exiles” by Jane Harper lays out an enticing scene for a mystery novel, set in the fictional Maralee Valley of the author’s native Australia. The story begins with a sleeping baby found alone in a pram at the village’s annual festival. The child’s mother, Kim Gillipsie, vanishes into the night. The novel’s protagonist, federal investigator Aaron Falk, returns to the valley a year later to uncover the mystery, but as he learns more about the community that Kim was a part of, he discovers a web of family ties and generational secrets. “Exiles” is a trilogy finale following Harper’s highly acclaimed first and second novels “Dry” and “Force of Nature,” but readers can jump into this novel with ease — it effectively serves as a standalone narrative, with occasional allusions to the events of past books.

“Exiles” takes time to lay out its large cast of characters, notable among them the protagonist Falk, a shrewd and reserved policeman and an outsider welcomed into their close-knit community; Kim Gillespie, the missing woman who was once an entrenched member in the Maralee community but had since grown distant; and Gemma Tozer, festival organizer and Falk’s love interest.

Most of the characters are not particularly memorable or interesting, perhaps because of the sheer number of people Harper introduces; the only characters who feel compelling are the narrator Falk himself and the missing woman Kim, whose psychological and emotional states are developed and dissected throughout the novel. Her absence is tantalizing, and the various clues and dead ends dropped throughout the novel raise question after question, leaving expectations high for the mystery to be revealed.

While mystery abounds in this sleepy village, most of the plot leaves the reader with more questions than answers, and the novel’s slow pace and vague conclusion yield a sense of faint dissatisfaction. The story centers around the mystery of Kim Gillespie’s disappearance, but the suspense drags on unnecessarily at times rather than propelling the story forward. While the pace picks up around the middle, the final twist is revealed so late into the story that it feels anticlimactic, especially since there is little to no significant foreshadowing of the eventual reveal.

In addition, the twist is partially revealed through chapters told from the perspective of Kim and her husband, who was involved in her disappearance, which sheds light on the story but also feels lazy on the author’s part. A mystery novel satisfies readers when the resolution is unexpected but could have been predicted with the clues given. The twist in “Exiles” comes after a string of disconnected and random clues that do not quite make sense once the final reveal is known.

The setting of the novel is one of the only places where “Exiles” really shines. The deep bushland, lush vineyard, and reservoir lake serve as significant locations in the plot, and the writing excels at immersing the reader in the surroundings of Maralee Valley and elevating the novel above the rest of its mediocre elements.

The novel’s subplot is frankly more compelling than the mystery of the main plot. Falk has a romantic interlude with the festival organizer Gemma Tozer, while simultaneously solving the mystery of her late husband’s death six years prior. This narrative is more compelling than the mystery of Kim’s disappearance since its resolution actually makes sense. The love plot is utterly predictable but altogether sweet, especially the scenes where Falk bonded with Gemma’s son and helped him through his grief.

The writing, while often corny, does its job to move the story forward. The book is relatively painless to get through, especially once the pacing picks up in the middle of the novel. “Exiles” is a fairly light read, skimming the surface of anything too dark and unpleasant for readers’ tastes, but in the end provides a simple but genuine lesson on the importance of keeping community ties alive. The most compelling characters — Falk and the missing woman Kim – are “exiles” in their own ways, underscoring the importance of having a strong network of friends and family. While the resolution of the mystery was disappointing, the ending for Falk’s character provides what surely is a satisfying conclusion for fans of the Falk trilogy, although leaving the story open for another sequel.

Overall, “Exiles” is an underwhelming mystery novel with a disappointing twist and a conclusion that is barely satisfactory. The novel is sufficiently interesting if the reader has nothing else to do, perhaps on a long flight or train ride, but not nearly good enough to truly entertain.

—Staff writer Arielle C. Frommer can be reached at [email protected].

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2020

New York Times Bestseller

by Christina Baker Kline ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2020

This fascinating 19th-century take on Orange Is the New Black is subtle, intelligent, and thrillingly melodramatic.

A London governess and a Scottish midwife’s neglected daughter are sent to a penal colony in Australia, where an Aboriginal girl is in another sort of captivity.

Kline’s monumental eighth novel opens in 1840 on Flinders Island, Australia, where an 8-year-old orphan named Mathinna is whisked away from her tribe at the whimsy of visiting dignitary Lady Franklin, who fancies training one of the "savages." A necklace of shells made by her mother and a pet possum named Waluka are all Mathinna can take from the life she knew. Across the ocean, 21-year-old Evangeline, also recently orphaned, is fired from her job in London and sent to Newgate Prison when a family treasure is found in her room—and this is not the only problematic gift she has received from the family’s eldest son, now conveniently traveling in Venice. Meanwhile, in Glasgow, half-starved 16-year-old urchin Hazel Ferguson is caught stealing a silver spoon. Evangeline and Hazel become acquainted on the Medea , a former slaving ship bound for the prison colony where the now obviously pregnant Evangeline is to serve a sentence of 14 years. Kline takes her time with this epic story, creating each of her nightmarish and uniquely malodorous settings in detail, from the harrowing months at sea with the randy and violent sailors to the strange new world that awaits Evangeline and Hazel in the convict colony. Once back on land, the narrative loops in poor lonely Mathinna, whose life now consists mainly of being dragged out at tea parties to be pawed and humiliated, then clicks into high gear when Hazel gets a work-release assignment as a maid in Lady Franklin’s household. This episode in history gets a top-notch treatment by Kline, one of our foremost historical novelists.

Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-06-235634-5

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Custom House/Morrow

Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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More by Christina Baker Kline

BOOK REVIEW

by Christina Baker Kline

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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THE FAMILIAR

by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024

Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.

In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.

Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.

Pub Date: April 9, 2024

ISBN: 9781250884251

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

FANTASY | GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | HISTORICAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FANTASY

More by Leigh Bardugo

by Leigh Bardugo

by Leigh Bardugo ; illustrated by Dani Pendergast

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The Exiles: A Novel Hardcover – Deckle Edge, August 25, 2020

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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

OPTIONED FOR TELEVISION BY BRUNA PAPANDREA, THE PRODUCER OF HBO'S BIG LITTLE LIES

“A tour de force of original thought, imagination and promise … Kline takes full advantage of fiction — its freedom to create compelling characters who fully illuminate monumental events to make history accessible and forever etched in our minds." — Houston Chronicle

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in nineteenth-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea , Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose,  The Exiles  is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Mariner Books
• Publication date August 25, 2020
• Dimensions 6 x 1.21 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 0062356348
• ISBN-13 978-0062356345
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

“A tour de force of original thought, imagination and promise … Kline takes full advantage of fiction—its freedom to create compelling characters who fully illuminate monumental events to make history accessible and forever etched in our minds." — Houston Chronicle

"Monumental...This episode in history gets a top-notch treatment by Kline, one of our foremost historical novelists. This fascinating 19th-century take on Orange Is the New Black  is subtle, intelligent, and thrillingly melodramatic." — Kirkus Reviews   (starred review)

"Both uplifting and heartbreaking, this beautifully written novel doesn’t flinch from the ugliness of the penal system but celebrates the courage and resilience of both the first peoples and the settlers who came after, voluntarily or not, to create a new home for themselves and their children." — Library Journal  (starred review)

"Gripping...Filled with surprising twists, empathetic prose, and revealing historical details, Kline’s resonant, powerful story will please any historical fiction fan." — Publishers Weekly

"Kline deftly balances tragedy and pathos, making happy endings hard-earned and satisfying...Book groups will find much to discuss, such as the uses of education, both formal and informal, in this moving work." — Booklist

"Master storyteller Christina Baker Kline is at her best in this epic yet intimate tale of nineteenth-century Australia. I loved this book." — Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin  

“Celebrating the bonds between women, the novel explores how lives that seem destined for pain might persevere.” — Real Simple

"Intelligent and satisfyingly dramatic.” — Newsday

“The story-telling in The Exiles is triumphant…The women’s struggles are filled with adversity and grief. But the novel also reveals moments of love, courage and bravery and resilience.” — Portland Press Herald

“[Kline's] research, coupled with her knack for telling a compelling story, coalesce in a riveting tale that will keep readers breathlessly hurtling toward the heart-rending conclusion." — Bookreporter

“The author's ability to weave fact with fiction, tragedy with moments of hope, and the everyday with the universal will leave you immersed, wanting more. You’ll open this novel because of history, read on because of story, and close it knowing more about your own life, right here, right now.” — New York Journal of Books

“ The Exiles  is that rarest of novels, a true page-turner. The action moves along; the reader feels himself to be in the hands of a professional." — Alabama Public Radio

"Well-researched and boldly imagined." — Sydney Morning Herald

About the Author

Christina Baker Kline is the author of six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train as well as A Piece of the World . She lives outside New York City and spends as much time as possible on the coast of Maine. Learn more about Christina at www.christinabakerkline.com.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; First Edition (August 25, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062356348
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062356345
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.21 x 9 inches
• #1,891 in Mothers & Children Fiction
• #2,896 in Women's Friendship Fiction
• #13,638 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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About the author

Christina baker kline.

A #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, and A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline is published in 40 countries. Her novels have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among other prizes, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, universities and schools as “One Book, One Read” selections. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the NYT Book Review, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, LitHub, Psychology Today, Poets & Writers, and Salon. Born in England and raised in the American South and Maine, Kline is a graduate of Yale (B.A.), Cambridge (M.A.) and the University of Virginia (M.F.A.), where she was a Hoyns Fellow in Fiction Writing.

Kline lives in NYC and Southwest Harbor, Maine. She serves on the advisory boards of the Center for Fiction (NY), the Jesup Library (Bar Harbor, ME), the Montclair Literary Festival (NJ), the Kauai Writers Festival (HI), and Roots & Wings (NJ), and on the gala committees of Poets & Writers (NY), The Authors Guild (NY) and Friends of Acadia (ME). She is an Artist-Mentor for StudioDuke at Duke University and the BookEnds program at Stony Brook University.

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The Exiles (Kline)

The Exiles   Christina Baker Kline, 2020 HarperCollins 384 pp. ISBN-13: 9780062356345 Summary The author of the bestseller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in nineteenth-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society . Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land. During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors. Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land. In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy. ( From the publisher .)

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A powerful, emotionally resonant novel that captures the hardship, oppression, opportunity and hope of four women’s lives—three English convicts and an orphaned Aboriginal girl—in nineteenth-century Australia.

Christina Baker Kline has established herself as a novelist who plumbs noteworthy but little-known facets of the past, and The Exiles marks her third foray into the genre. While Orphan Train and A Piece of the World were grounded in American history, The Exiles makes a bold geographic and cultural leap, and confirms Christina’s place among the finest talents writing today. While most English convicts transported to Australia were men, 25,000 were women. Christina explores the development of Australia from a fresh perspective, telling the story of this fascinating, blood-soaked land and its legacy with the grace, beauty, empathy, and insight—and the rich, full-bodied characters—that are the hallmarks of her work.

“Master storyteller Christina Baker Kline is at her best in this epic tale of Australia’s complex history—a vivid and rewarding feat of both empathy and imagination. I loved this book.” — Paula McLain , New York Times Bestselling author of The Paris Wife 

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony established by Great Britain. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea , Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel — a skilled midwife and herbalist – is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

Instant New York Times  Bestseller Publishers Weekly Bestseller USA Today Bestseller Indie Next Bestseller

Best 100 Novels of 2020 ,  Kirkus,  11/20 “Our 51 Favorite Books of 2020,” Washington Independent Review of Books, 11/20 “2020 Great Group Reads Selection,”   Women’s National Book Association , 10/20 “Fall’s Best New Historical Fiction Books, According to the Women who Wrote Them,” Parade, 9/20 “Fall Books: 12 Great Reads ,” Newsday,  9/20 September 2020 “20 Great Reads” List (#4), Indie Next “The Best Books of 2020,”   Real Simple , 8/20 “Ten Most Anticipated Books for August,” HuffPost.com “Bruna Papandrea to Develop Christina Baker Kline’s THE EXILES as TV Series (Exclusive ),”   Variety , 7/20 Female-Driven Production Company Options THE EXILES,   Women and Hollywood , 7/20 “Books We’re Excited to Read This Fall,” New York Magazine ( Vulture ), 8/20 “Novels Everyone Will be Buzzing About This Fall (online); “ Best Books of Fall 2020” (print),”   New York Post , 8/20 “The Orphan Train Author Returns with a Moving Story Set in Australia (excerpt),”  AARP.org, 9/20 “Earphones Award Winner for Outstanding Narration” by Caroline Lee,   Audiofile Magazine , 8/20 “Bestseller/Bookseller Favorite,” Barnes & Noble, 8/20 “Christina Baker Kline on the responsibilities of writing historical fiction ( Chicago Review of Books ),” LitHub “Make room in your TBR pile for these 20 books,”  LitHub, 8/20 “BookMarks” RAVE,  LitHub, 8/20 “Christina Baker Kline recalls her deep dive into Australian history while writing THE EXILES,” Poets & Writers , 8/20 “32 New Historical Fiction Novels Readers are Loving,” Goodreads, 8/20 “Six Great Books Hitting Shelves this Week,” Goodreads, 8/20 Satellite Sisters Best Beach Bag Books 2021,  Satellite Sisters , 6/21  “Bets On” Selection for 2020, Book Reporter LibraryReads selection,  LibraryLoveFest.com, 8/20 “What to Read Next: Most Anticipated New Releases,”  HastyBookList.com, 7/20 “Can’t Wait to Read Wednesday,”  ForeverLostinLiterature.com, 7/20 September Book Club Pick, “Wine&Words,” BookClubGirl.com “ Must-Read Literary Fiction August 2020,”  NewInBooks.com “Book of the Month,” The Bookworm of Edwards (Vail, CO), 10/20

Interviews with CBK for THE EXILES

“Christina Baker Kline: On Bringing History to Life,” Writer’s Digest “Tell It Slant:” An interview with Jennifer Solheim, Fiction Writers Review “Christina Baker Kline celebrates ‘Exiles’ paperback with all-star author event,” The Boston Globe “On the Power and Purpose of Historical Fiction,”   Literary Hub “Different worlds: Christina Baker Kline spotlights a 19th-century injustice,” Costco Connection “When Truth is Stranger than Fiction,” Montclair Magazine “STRONG WOMEN … difficult lives,” Charlotte Florida Weekly “Sunday Brunch: 2 Buzzy Authors Answer Frolic’s 5 Questions,” Frolic Media “Q&A with Christina Baker Kline,”   Deborah Kalb Books “Interview with Christina Baker Kline about research, writing craft, and THE EXILES,” It’s Just Historical Podcast “What’s in a Page?” Q&A with Christina Baker Kline,  Entertainment Weekly “A Different Settler Story in The Exiles:” An interview with Greer Macallister, Chicago Review of Books “Bestselling Author of The Exiles,” KATU ABC 2 Olivia’s Book Club: Christina Baker Kline, ‘The Exiles,’ Olivia’s Book Club Podcast “‘Orphan Train’ author Christina Baker Kline talks book party with Kristin Hannah and Elin Hilderbrand,” The Orange County Register “Zoom book tours and author collaborations: How Montclair NJ native landed on bestseller lists,” Northjersey.com “Exclusive: Christina Baker Kline discusses her latest book The Exiles, ‘I’m interested in the power of women,’” Monsters & Critics “Christina Baker Kline,” Write The Book: Conversations on Craft Podcast “Christina Baker Kline Interview,” Author Stories Podcast “Satellite Sisters Best Beach Bag Books 2021 Special feat. Christina Baker Kline, author of The Exiles and The Orphan Train,” Satellite Sisters Podcast Spotlight on Christina Baker Kline (Q&A) , Pages of the Past: Celebrating Historical Fiction “Talking with Christina Baker Kline + a dive into the week’s new releases,” Biblio Happy Hour Podcast “Christina Baker Kline, THE EXILES,”   Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books Podcast “Making History with Christina Baker Kline,” Book Dreams Podcast “Christina Baker Kline, Author of The Exiles,” A Bookish Home Podcast “Christina Baker Kline Interview,” Reading and Writing Podcast Bookreporter Talks To Christina Baker Kline , The Book Report Network Podcast (video ) Best Seller Part Two , Lifeslices podcast “It’s Pub Day!!” with Christina Baker Kline, Who the Hell Are We? Podcast “The Exiles” with Christina Baker Kline , The Avid Reader Show Podcast “Christina Baker Kline & The Exiles” Complicated Conversations Series, Pop Fiction Women Podcast Q & A with Christina’s Editor, Katherine Nintzel , HarperCollins Publishers “Instant NYT Bestselling Author Christina Baker Kline Talks About her Ravishing New Historical Fiction, The “Exiles, Women Convicts, Mothers, Writing, Trees & Asks Me a Question, Too,” LeslieLindsay.com “Wake Up and Write vol.1: Christina Baker Kline Shares Her Writing Advice,” Moms Don’t Have Time to Write

Reviews of The Exiles

“Monumental. This episode in history gets a top-notch treatment by Kline, one of our foremost historical novelists. This fascinating 19th-century take on Orange Is the New Black is subtle, intelligent, and thrillingly melodramatic.” — Kirkus (starred), 8/19/20

“A tour de force of original thought, imagination and promise … Kline takes full advantage of fiction — its freedom to create compelling characters who fully illuminate monumental events to make history accessible and forever etched in our minds.” —  Houston Chronicle , 8/3/2020

“Although men are credited for “discovering” and “taming” Australia, they play a very small role in this 19th-century-set novel from Kline ( A Piece of the World ), which tells of the women’s stories—not only that of the convicts, but also those who came freely, and, most important, those who were there first—the Aboriginal people. Both uplifting and heartbreaking, this beautifully written novel doesn’t flinch from the ugliness of the penal system but celebrates the courage and resilience of both the first peoples and the settlers who came after, voluntarily or not, to create a new home for themselves and their children.” — Library Journal (starred) , 7/17/2020

“In the gripping latest from Kline ( Orphan Train ), three women try to carve out lives in mid-19th-century colonial Australia…. The women, all brought to their new lives against their wills, become a lens through which to see the development of colonial Australia. Filled with surprising twists, empathetic prose, and revealing historical details, Kline’s resonant, powerful story will please any historical fiction fan.” — Publishers Weekly , 7/1/2020

“As in Orphan Train , Kline deftly balances tragedy and pathos, making happy endings hard-earned and satisfying … Book groups will find much to discuss, such as the uses of education, both formal and informal, in this moving work.” — Booklist , 6/30/2020

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A Different Settler Story in “The Exiles”

With starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus , a TV deal with Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories already inked, and places on a half-dozen lists of the year’s most anticipated books, Christina Baker Kline’s new novel The Exiles is poised to make a splash. It is in some ways a quiet book, focusing on the innermost thoughts and feelings of its main characters—but it’s also epic in scope, addressing matters of life and death, choices and consequences, and the founding of a new nation. These disparate elements combine to make it her best work yet. I talked with Christina about inspiration decades in the making, the responsibility she felt toward those who lived the history she fictionalizes, and the upsides of swapping a virtual book tour for the traditional traveling version.

Greer Macallister

The Exiles is a very different kind of “settler story,” isn’t it? So often, history focuses on simplified stories of “brave” men who forge into what they consider a frontier to build a new country. But you’re casting a more critical eye on Australian history, looking not just at the role of women in this founding, but also the mistreatment of the Aboriginal people who were removed to make way for those settlers. What was the first spark that kindled your inspiration for this book? 

Christina Baker Kline 

When I was a grad student in my twenties, I read Robert Hughes’ epic history of Australia, The Fatal Shore . The stories that interested me most—those of the convict women essentially transported from Britain as breeders and the Aboriginal people whose way of life was destroyed when colonists landed on their shores—were relegated to only one chapter of that 688-page book, “Bunters, Mollies and Sable Brethren.” Several months later I was awarded a six-week Rotary Foundation fellowship to Australia, where I asked lots of questions about the country’s fraught and complicated past—questions that weren’t particularly welcome. The truth is, as you say, what we call “history” is almost always told from the perspective of the conquerors, a group that has typically excluded women, the poor, indigenous people, and any combination thereof. When I returned to the U.S. I wrote a nonfiction book with my mother, The Conversation Begins: Mothers and Daughters Talk about Living Feminism , and taught memoir writing in a women’s prison; both of these experiences shaped my interests as a novelist. One day, about four years ago, I read a short article in the New York Times about convict women and children transported to Australia. All of a sudden, the bits and pieces of my own experience, predilections, and obsessions fell into place and I knew I’d found the subject of my next novel.

How did the research process for The Exiles compare to that of your previous books? Was it harder to dive deep into Australian history than American history, and did the time period of the 1840s present any particular challenges?

Christina Baker Kline

Each novel I write is the hardest book I’ve ever written, which is exasperating. I trick myself into a new book project by assuring myself that this one will write itself, but so far that hasn’t happened. I keep setting myself steeper challenges. My early novels were mostly set in the present, but when I learned that I had a family (in-law) connection to the orphan trains, I held my breath and leapt into the very deep waters of research-heavy fiction. Orphan Train tells the story of destitute immigrant children in East Coast cities who were sent thousands of miles away to be farm labor in the early 20th century; A Piece of the World is about a real-life disabled woman who lived in rural Maine during that same time period and achieved immortality in a painting. In The Exiles , desperate women on the lowest rungs of Britain’s social ladder are exiled to “the land beyond the seas,” as the British courts called Australia, for what was essentially a life sentence; very few returned to their homeland. 

While researching The Exiles I visited the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens in Glasgow, Newgate Prison in London, and the English village of Tunbridge Wells; I went to Australia twice and explored the Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania (now a museum), the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, a manor house called Runnymede, the Hobart Convict Penitentiary, the Richmond Gaol Historic Site, the Maritime Museum of Tasmania, and many other convict sites, museums, and libraries in Sydney and Melbourne. I read dozens of books, articles, and essays about convict life and Tasmanian Aboriginal history. To get a sense of the vocabulary and attitudes of the time, I read novels, nonfiction books, newspapers, and journals written in the mid-19th century. (Many of these are listed on my website , if you want to learn more.) I became obsessed with arcane details, some of which I discovered after finishing a draft or two. For example, after I’d handed in the manuscript I read about the inexpensive tallow made of animal fat used for candles in prisons and the homes of the poor. It smelled terrible and dripped copiously. I went back and wove that detail in. 

I felt a particular responsibility, while writing The Exiles , to be as accurate as possible. Like the convict women, I am British-born and raised (and have dual citizenship), but I have never lived in Australia and am not an indigenous person. I worked hard to get the details right and convey the nuance of my characters’ disparate experiences. Life was undoubtedly arduous for the convict women, but with luck and perseverance many of them ultimately earned their freedom. This was not the case for the Aboriginal people who were persecuted by the British. While writing the book I consulted and shared my manuscript with experts on these topics, including Alison Alexander, a retired professor who has written or edited 33 books on Australian history and is herself descended from convicts, and Dr. Gregory Lehman, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Aboriginal Leadership at the University of Tasmania and a descendant of the Trawulwuy people.

When you were on tour for A Piece of the World , I distinctly remember the amazing slideshow you presented on Christina Olson, the subject of Andrew Wyeth’s classic painting “Christina’s World.” For The Exiles , you’ve got an impressive virtual tour coming up, appearing in conversation with everyone from Amor Towles to Ann Patchett. Do you feel more constrained or less constrained by touring virtually instead of physically?

I will miss meeting people on the road and hearing their reactions to a novel I’ve spent years writing in solitude. Those interactions are the best part of being on tour. (Snarfing cold breakfast sandwiches in airports, not so much!) This new virtual format presents all kinds of challenges; it’s never been done before on this scale, there can be technical snafus, lighting and sound can be wonky. But anyone in the world can now attend my events and I don’t have to bounce around on trains, planes, and automobiles for weeks on end. I can wear flip flops and shorts in the comfort of my own home without worrying about time zones and jet lag and delayed or cancelled flights. Best of all, writers I admire from across the United States, from an island in Seattle to a horse farm in Virginia, can join me in conversation. I’m really looking forward to it.

I created a slideshow for The Exiles and plan to present it in person someday. It tells the story behind the book: how I came to the topic, where the research led me, and what surprises I encountered as I went along. (In addition to historical photographs, paintings, and maps, I included a few embarrassing photos from my days as a Rotary Fellow touring frozen food factories and timber preserves. Good times!) 

Definitely sounds like a slideshow worth seeing! Your earlier work was contemporary, but your most recent books — Orphan Train , A Piece of the World , and The Exiles — have all drawn inspiration from real-life people and events in history. When I talked to Therese Anne Fowler , who made a similar move from contemporary to historical, about her future writing plans, she said, “I have wide-ranging interests, and while I might be said to return to a handful of favorite themes in my novels, I’m choosing to write stories that grab me irrespective of their time settings.” Do you also have plans to return to contemporary settings if the spirit moves you, or does historical fiction feel like the right place for you for the foreseeable future?

“You Learn to Care for Your Characters Differently”: An Interview with Rachel Lyon on “Fruit of the Dead”

I, too, prefer not to be pigeonholed. I don’t even like to be called a “historical novelist” (which is largely a female ghetto, I believe—I’ve written about that here ). After finishing each of my recent novels set in the past I was determined to write a contemporary novel, but I kept stumbling on nuggets of history too interesting to ignore. 

While I was writing The Exiles , a cousin interested in genealogy reminded me of a family story that took place in rural North Carolina at the time of the Civil War. Alas, I knew instantly that this story was too good to pass up. 

I can’t resist asking about the recently announced TV adaptation of The Exiles , on which you’ll be working with Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories. It seems like a perfect match, given the Australian subject matter and the company’s focus on telling women’s stories with women in front of and behind the camera. Why does TV feel like the right fit for this story in particular? Is this your first time overseeing the adaptation of one of your books as Executive Producer? 

Congratulations to you, too, Greer: it’s wonderful that Made Up Stories is producing your novel Woman 99 ! This female-run company seems like the perfect place for both of us. Though I’m not interested in adapting my books myself—screenwriting is such a different beast—I do have lots of opinions and look forward to being involved. With Orphan Train and A Piece of the World (both of which have been optioned for film and are in various stages of development, though you never know, with Hollywood, how things will pan out), I edited the scripts and offered suggestions, but this is the first time I’ll be overseeing the adaptation of one of my books. The Exiles is a pretty dramatic saga and I think it will make a compelling television series, but more importantly, it’ll reach a wider audience than my book, introducing people to a significant piece of history that many know little about. I can’t wait to get going.

FICTION The Exiles By Christina Baker Kline Custom House Published August 25, 2020

Bestselling author of historical fiction and historical fantasy. Out now: THE ARCTIC FURY. Up next: SCORPICA (The Five Queendoms #1, 2.22.22, as G.R. Macallister).

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The Exiles: A Novel

• By Christina Baker Kline
• Custom House
• Reviewed by K.L. Romo
• November 4, 2020

A gripping tale of women cast out from society and banished to an 1800s Tasmanian penal colony.

It’s 19th-century Australia, and Mathinna is an Aboriginal Palawa chieftain’s daughter raised by Anglos after British colonialists stole her people’s tribal land. “When most of the Palawa had been killed off, the remaining few were rounded up and brought to Flinders.”

Because Mathinna’s looks are more European than native and she can read and write, the wife of the settlement’s English governor considers her a curiosity. She takes Mathinna to the governor’s mansion as an experiment: She will attempt to mold the girl into a refined British lady. But regardless of how hard she tries to adapt, Mathinna knows she will never belong in their world.

Evangeline is a governess in London, the daughter of a vicar who’d educated her well, except in the realities of the physical world. After her wealthy employer’s son seduces and impregnates her, she is falsely accused of stealing the employer’s valuable family heirloom and is convicted of theft. Her sentence is 14 years’ incarceration at a women’s prison in Australia. As one inmate tells her, “England used to send its dregs to America, but after the rebellion they had to find a new rubbish dump. Australia it was.”

Awaiting her exile, Evangeline arrives at London’s infamous Newgate Prison, a “block-long fortress squatting in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral.” Outside, she sees “children who earned pennies collecting animal bones that were turned to ash and mixed with clay to make the ceramics displayed in ladies’ china cupboards.”

Inside, Evangeline will never get used to “the screams that spread like a contagion from one cell to the next. The vicious fistfights that broke out abruptly and ended with an inmate spitting blood or teeth. The lukewarm midday broth that floated with bony pig knuckles, snouts, bits of hooves, and hair. Moldy bread laced with maggots.”

After surviving three months in the bowels of the jail, Evangeline embarks on a four-month journey on the Medea , a former slaving ship now used to transport prisoners. She knows she will give birth onboard.

Living on the ship’s fetid lowest deck with 200 other women and children, Evangeline meets 16-year-old Hazel, a street-smart convict. But Hazel is also skilled at healing and midwifery — skills learned from her mother before alcohol ruined her — and helps the ship’s surgeon care for the passengers and crew. Soon, Hazel and Evangeline form a friendship, Hazel helping Evangeline overcome her morning sickness, and Evangeline teaching Hazel how to read by “knitting words” on a piece of slate.

When a deckhand viciously attacks a prisoner, the journey takes a disastrous turn, but the ship finally arrives at its destination: Van Diemen’s Land (later renamed Tasmania), “that fledgling colony on the other side of the world that had taken root in stolen soil, choking out the life that already existed and flourishing under the free labor of convicts.” There, the women are committed to their new home, a prison called the Cascades Female Factory.

With a good-conduct recommendation, inmates are eligible to become “assignable” — having the privilege to work as outsourced labor in settlers’ homes. Hired as a maid for the governor’s mansion, Hazel offers kindness to Mathinna when no one else will. But soon, their lives will change again.

The Exiles poignantly explores the issues of social identity, fate, loyalty, and survival during a time in history when women were “less than,” and Anglo society believed itself entitled to decimate indigenous tribes living on confiscated land. From the squalid straw floors and suffering of Newgate, to a ship’s dark and foul hold, to a penal colony in Hobart Town, readers follow these brave women on their journey of survival through inexplicable sorrow, hardship, and loss.

Although the novel chronicles fictional journeys a century past, the author’s commentary on social justice applies today. A masterpiece of historical reckoning, this heartrending story will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.

K.L. Romo writes about life on the fringe: Teetering dangerously on the edge is more interesting than standing safely in the middle. She is passionate about women’s issues and loves noisy clocks and fuzzy blankets but HATES the word normal. Find her on Twitter at @klromo and Instagram at @k.l.romo.

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Christina Baker Kline’s latest novel, THE EXILES, transports readers to 19th-century Australia and the perilous journey to get there.

Twenty-one-year-old Evangeline, the daughter of a country parson, is employed as governess to the Whitstone children in the tony London neighborhood of St. John’s Wood. Her shyness and education sometimes falsely portray her as aloof and elitist, but her solitary ways garner the attention of the family’s eldest son, Cecil, who quickly seduces the naïve girl. Before he leaves for a trip abroad, Cecil offers Evangeline a gift of a family heirloom --- a ruby ring: “It wasn’t until much later that she realized she had built gossamer connections between his words, sticky as spider silk, filling in the phrases she wanted to hear.”

"[Kline's] research, coupled with her knack for telling a compelling story, coalesce in a riveting tale that will keep readers breathlessly hurtling toward the heart-rending conclusion."

Not long after, Evangeline discovers that she is pregnant. When the ring is found in her room, her employer accuses her of stealing. Without Cecil there to vouch for her, and with no family of her own, she is sent to Newgate Prison and sentenced to “fourteen years transportation to the land beyond the seas.” Evangeline would now have to endure the four-month journey across the seas to Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia, knowing that she will be giving birth on this voyage.

On board the Medea , the ship transporting the convicts to that faraway land, conditions are beyond squalid. When shown her “quarters” in the orlop, Mickey, a sailor on the crew, reports that “Orlop’s just above the bilge. A stew of filthy water. Fragrant, ain’t it? Add to that the chamber pots and stinky candles and god knows what else…. There’ll be close to two hundred women and children down here at night.” Evangeline notices, “The space was half a yard high and half a yard wide. No room to sit up and not long enough to stretch out. But it was hers.”

It is under these terrible circumstances that Evangeline meets Hazel, a 16-year-old Glaswegian who learned to be an herbalist and midwife from her mother. Her reticence speaks to a hard childhood in Scotland, but Evangeline sees a kindred spirit in this misunderstood soul. By carefully observing her mother’s midwifery, Hazel gleaned many helpful skills about safe delivery and the benefits of using herbs --- another reason that a nervous Evangeline wants to align herself with this clever young woman.

Mathinna lived with her people on Flinders Island until she was eight. The orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, she had lost her mother a few months before the arrival of the new governor of Van Dieman’s Land and his impulsive wife, the latter of whom views taking in the child as a quirky souvenir from her travels. Having the daughter of a chieftain, she thinks, will add a certain cache to her collection. So Mathinna and her pet possum, Waluka, are packed and transported to her new life, not realizing the precipice on which she is standing. She takes some comfort in the words of her late mother, who told her, “You carry the people and the places you cherish with you. Remember that and you will never be lonely, child.” Mathinna hopes she is right.

As in her previous novels, ORPHAN TRAIN and A PIECE OF THE WORLD, Kline’s impeccable research adds great import to the already moving story of three women, all of whom are exiles navigating the turbulent waters of their newfound circumstances. As Mrs. Fry tells her, “Men don’t have to live with the consequences of their actions. You do.” Each woman learns this difficult lesson the hard way.

The origin of THE EXILES was the true story of a female convict being transported to Australia, but Kline felt that it would be irresponsible not to address the issue of Aboriginal people who were exiled from their own lands by the British. She learned all she could about the real-life Mathinna to complement the narratives of Evangeline and Hazel. This research, coupled with her knack for telling a compelling story, coalesce in a riveting tale that will keep readers breathlessly hurtling toward the heart-rending conclusion.

Each woman learns in her own way how the past is prologue, just as Noonuccal, the Aboriginal poet, states in the novel’s epigraph: “Let no one say the past is dead. The past is all about us and within.”

Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller on August 25, 2020

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

• Publication Date: July 6, 2021
• Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Custom House
• ISBN-10: 006235633X
• ISBN-13: 9780062356338

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Aaron Falk Mystery #3

by Jane Harper

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• Literary Fiction
• Pacific, inc. Hawaii, Aus & NZ
• Contemporary
• Dealing with Loss

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Beyond the Book:    A Quick Tour Through South Australia's Wine Region

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• About the Book

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller ORPHAN TRAIN returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in 19th-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea , Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel --- a skilled midwife and herbalist --- is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, THE EXILES is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

• Publication Date: July 6, 2021
• Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Custom House
• ISBN-10: 006235633X
• ISBN-13: 9780062356338

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