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.
"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."
07/20/2020
In the gripping latest from Kline (Orphan Train ), three women try to carve out lives in mid-19th-century colonial Australia. Aborigine Matthina is eight years old when she’s seen by the wife of the governor of an English settlement on a visit to her home island, Wybalenna. After learning Matthina can speak English, the woman decides to take her back to Flinders in southern Australia as a curiosity and an experiment in forced civilization. Meanwhile, in London, Evangeline is the orphaned daughter of a vicar working as a governess to the children of a wealthy family. But after Evangeline is seduced by the family’s eldest son and her secret pregnancy is discovered, she is arrested, held in Newgate prison, and sentenced to transport to the penal colonies of Australia. She shares the voyage to her new life with Hazel, the hardscrabble daughter of a midwife who turns her knowledge of medicine into an asset aboard the ship. The narratives converge when their ship docks in Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania), where Matthina, who has been adopted by the island’s governor, now lives. 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. (Sept.)
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
[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."
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."
Celebrating the bonds between women, the novel explores how lives that seem destined for pain might persevere.
"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."
"Intelligent and satisfyingly dramatic.
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."
"Well-researched and boldly imagined."
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. ... A tour de force of original thought, imagination, and promise."
07/17/2020
Employed by a London family as governess, Evangeline is seduced by the young master of the house. When she is found to be in the family way and fired from her position, in a moment of rage she shoves the maid who revealed her secret and is thrown into prison. She is found guilty of attempted murder and soon on her way to Australia aboard a convict ship. Dreadful conditions, worse food, and predatory sailors make the voyage a living hell for the female convicts, but Evangeline makes a friend in herbalist and midwife Hazel. Not all survive the months-long voyage, but those who do discover that Australia may just provide the sanctuary they need if they have the strength to claim it. 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. VERDICT 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. [See Prepub Alert, 2/24/20.]—Jane Henriksen Baird, formerly at Anchorage P.L., AK
Caroline Lee offers an outstanding narration of Kline’s well-researched novel, which depicts a shameful moment in Australia’s colonial history. Seduced, pregnant, accused of stealing, and convicted on slight evidence, Evangeline is marked for transport from Newgate Prison to Australia. Onboard the ship, fellow prisoners Hazel and Olive help her cope with various hardships and her pregnancy. Lee paints flesh-and-blood portraits of the women convicts and the inhumane shipboard conditions. Arriving in Hobart Town, they discover that the governor’s wife has removed Mathinna, an Aboriginal child, from her family, and is fancifully conducting an experiment to see if “savages” are trainable. Lee captures the child’s painful adjustments, the emotional essence of the women’s growing friendships, and the inherent racism of the British overlords. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Caroline Lee offers an outstanding narration of Kline’s well-researched novel, which depicts a shameful moment in Australia’s colonial history. Seduced, pregnant, accused of stealing, and convicted on slight evidence, Evangeline is marked for transport from Newgate Prison to Australia. Onboard the ship, fellow prisoners Hazel and Olive help her cope with various hardships and her pregnancy. Lee paints flesh-and-blood portraits of the women convicts and the inhumane shipboard conditions. Arriving in Hobart Town, they discover that the governor’s wife has removed Mathinna, an Aboriginal child, from her family, and is fancifully conducting an experiment to see if “savages” are trainable. Lee captures the child’s painful adjustments, the emotional essence of the women’s growing friendships, and the inherent racism of the British overlords. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
