- Title:
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The Commonwealth of Thieves (MP3)
- Written by:
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Tom Keneally
- Read by:
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Simon Vance
- Format:
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Unabridged MP3 CD Audio Book
- Number of CDs:
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1
- Duration:
-
12 hours 28 minutes
- MP3 size:
-
540 MB
- Published:
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January 28 2019
- Available Date:
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January 28 2019
- Age Category:
-
Adult
- ISBN:
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9781489482136
- Genres:
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Fiction; Australian Fiction; Historical Fiction; Literary Fiction
- Publisher:
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Bolinda audio
Qty
Format
Price
Bolinda price
#1 bestselling author
A brilliant recreation of the first four years of white settlement in Australia by Booker Prize-winning author Tom Keneally.
In 1787, Britain banished its unwanted citizens – uneducated petty thieves, streetwalkers, orphan chimneysweeps and dashing highwaymen – to the fringes of the known world. So remote was Botany Bay – the destination to which the overcrowded, disease-ridden convict ships were bound - that only one European expedition had ever before anchored there.
Yet the rejects of Britain, accompanied only by a flimsy complement of soldiers, marines and officers, were expected to start a settlement and flourish. It was an audacious social experiment, unparalleled before or since.
To the indigenous inhabitants, the white men came as ghosts through cracks in the cosmos, rudely seizing the bounty of land and sea. On the swampy shores of Botany Bay, and by the sandstone coves of Sydney Harbour, the clash of civilisations was inevitable, intense and often tragic. From this improbable beginning, through famine, drought, escapes and floggings, the glory of modern Sydney was born. Britain's penal experiment succeeded against all odds.
Impeccably researched and told in the inimitable Keneally style, The Commonwealth of Thieves is the compelling tale of a nation's beginning, its unforgettable people and their quest for identity.
'The Commonwealth of Thieves is immaculately researched and historically exact ... an account of an extraordinary event described with gusto and sympathy.'
The Guardian
'Keneally has always had a grand talent for the telling of a tale. His rattling account of the genesis of his native city is one of his very best.'
The Times
'Keneally has deployed his outstanding talents as a narrative writer to produce an enlivening, informative and judicious book about his country's troubled origins.'
The Herald