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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Captain Charles O'Hara Booth, Commandant of Port Arthur Penal Settlement in Van Diemen's Land, fears his life will change when Sir John Franklin arrives to replace Colonel Arthur as Governor. As Franklin and his wife Jane discover, the colony is run by a clique of Arthur's former army officers, who have no intention of relinquishing power to a naval 'hero' reputed to be a simpleton. Clashes begin, observed by Harriet Adair, who has come to the island with Mrs Anna Rochester, a woman partially recovered from years living as a madwoman in the attic of Thornfield Hall. They are searching for the truth about her past in the West Indies...This astonishing and historically accurate novel intriguingly and brilliantly links Sir John Franklin's great tale of exploration and empire with Jane Eyre's iconic love story, questioning the relationship between history and fiction. It also considers the human cost of colonisation, and shows how these events lead inexorably to Franklin's last fatal expedition.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Epigraph: TZARA : It means, my dear Henry, that the causes we know everything about depend on the causes we know very little about, which depend on causes we know absolutely nothing about. And it is the duty of the artist to jeer and howl and belch at the delusion that infinite generations of real effects can be inferred from the gross expression of apparent cause. –Tom Stoppard, Travesties.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
Works about this Work
-
History Is A Many-Sided Thing
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2016;
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel ; Skylarking 2016 single work novel ; Music and Freedom 2016 single work novel -
Dualities and Delights in Van Diemen's Land
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , August vol. 76 no. 1 2016; (p. 218-221)
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel -
Island of Strange Stories
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Good Reading , September 2016; (p. 30-31) 'Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has inspired all kinds of fan fiction and adaptations, such as the 1966 prequel Wide Sargasso Sea. But in this new novel by Sydney resident JENNIFER LIVETT, the lives of Jane Eyre characters become entwined with those of real 19th-century Tasmanians, including doomed Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. Here Jennifer tells us how she came up with the idea for Wild Island.' -
Jane Eyre Moves to Van Diemen's Land in Jennifer Livett's Wild Island
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 8 September 2016;
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel 'Mixing real history with classic fiction, Wild Island imagines Jane Eyre and Rochester making their long passage to Van Diemen's Land. It is the 1830s – dramatic times. Lives were short, and in a brief space of time, everything could be lost: fortunes, husbands, health, entire families, or, as Jane Eyre's Bertha Mason experienced, the mind. ...' -
Mr Rochester Sets Sail for Van Diemen's Land
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 September 2016; (p. 26) The Saturday Age , 18-19 September 2016; (p. 21)
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel
-
Mr Rochester Sets Sail for Van Diemen's Land
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 September 2016; (p. 26) The Saturday Age , 18-19 September 2016; (p. 21)
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel -
Jane Eyre Moves to Van Diemen's Land in Jennifer Livett's Wild Island
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 8 September 2016;
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel 'Mixing real history with classic fiction, Wild Island imagines Jane Eyre and Rochester making their long passage to Van Diemen's Land. It is the 1830s – dramatic times. Lives were short, and in a brief space of time, everything could be lost: fortunes, husbands, health, entire families, or, as Jane Eyre's Bertha Mason experienced, the mind. ...' -
Dualities and Delights in Van Diemen's Land
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , August vol. 76 no. 1 2016; (p. 218-221)
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel -
History Is A Many-Sided Thing
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2016;
— Review of Wild Island 2016 single work novel ; Skylarking 2016 single work novel ; Music and Freedom 2016 single work novel -
Island of Strange Stories
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Good Reading , September 2016; (p. 30-31) 'Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has inspired all kinds of fan fiction and adaptations, such as the 1966 prequel Wide Sargasso Sea. But in this new novel by Sydney resident JENNIFER LIVETT, the lives of Jane Eyre characters become entwined with those of real 19th-century Tasmanians, including doomed Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. Here Jennifer tells us how she came up with the idea for Wild Island.'
Awards
Last amended 14 Aug 2017 13:02:28
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