AustLit

Tasmania witnesses the accidental meeting of the St John children and cousins with Martha Edgar, a fisherman's daughter. Subsequent events reveal that the fisherman is her uncle, Ranulph, who attacked his father and brother years before in England, was transported to Freemantle, escaped and settled in Tasmania with Martha - one of his brother's twin daughters who he had kidnapped from her cradle. The reunion of Martha with her twin sister, Mary, occurs only after a dreadful struggle between Ranulph and his traitorous accomplice Dick Harker. High English romance transported to Australia; well written though losing W. W's early distinctiveness - much more like the US and English models now in The Australian Journal. Twin sister theme the most interesting element. (PB)