In London, 1841, the Rajah sets sail to the other side of the world. Onboard are 180 women convicted of petty crimes. Daughters, sisters and mothers, they will never see their homeland or family again. Then, onboard the ship, a woman is murdered and everyone is a suspect.

Based on a true story, the Rajah really did sail to Australia transporting 180 women to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Also on board was a surgeon, a doctor, a clergy man and a woman called Kezia Hayter. Prior to the voyage Kezia is known to have been at Millbank Penitentiary working with the social reformer Elizabeth Fry, who came up with the idea that patchwork was useful both as a means of employment during long sea voyages and a way of teaching the art of sewing. Convicts were given a bag containing a bible, two aprons, a cap, two pounds weight of patchwork pieces and various sewing notions.

Kezia was given free passage on the Rajah on the understanding she would devote her time to the care and improvement of the prisoners. Onboard, between April and July 1841 she oversaw the making of a large patchwork coverlet known as the Rajah Quilt which is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, see https://nga.gov.au/on-demand/british-makers-on-board-the-rajah-en-route-to-hobart-the-rajah-quilt/. She also fell in love with the master of the Rajah and they were engaged to be married before the ship reached Hobart. The murder did not take place but it makes for a good story and was a useful means of explaining the hardships women faced at the time and what would have driven them to commit their crimes.

An interesting and thought provoking read. A nice touch was the inclusion of descriptions of the patchwork pieces that made up the quilt at the beginning of chapters and I loved that I was able to view the quilt and the pieces described online.

Further information and images of the quilt can be found at https://virtualvictorian.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-rajah-quilt.html?m=1.

Left in the library bus shelter at Green Lane, Vicars Cross.

Enjoyed reading this book. It gave an insight into how life was for woman in the 1800s