Fled opens somewhere in the Tasman Sea, off New South Wales in April 1791.  There is a woman, two children and some men in a boat.  But you are given a brief glimpse of what is going on here.  

Then you go back in time to Southern Cornwall and 1783.  Jenny's father has died and she holds the King responsible.  Given that the people have had to pay heavy taxes in order to fund a war.  Jenny doesn't like struggling and she is presented with an opportunity to become a highway woman.  So she steals from people in order to survive, until things no longer go her way and she is caught.  The usual punishment for stealing is hanging, but this is not what happens to Jenny.  Instead she is transported to Australia.  She becomes pregnant on the voyage out there and then ends up pairing with one of the other men from the ship so she doesn't become a target for sexual favours since she is single.

She dreams of being free as does her husband and they come up with a plan to escape.  

They do escape but I don't wish to go into much detail and spoil what happens.

What is interesting is that this book is based on the life of Mary Bryant. 

I thought it was a highly enjoyable book and I'd like to read further about Mary Bryant.

This was an interesting book and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It started with a highway woman, a prisoner, a deportee, a mother and an escapee, some of the happenings in the book ending with happiness after a lot of sadness, This was based on a real person and you could tell the author had a great knowledge of her. I would recommend this book to be read.

I enjoyed the storyline of fisherwoman Jenny, who becomes a highway robber, gets caught and ends up being transported to Australia. But all she longs to do is get away from the cruel brutally harsh existence, which even her own violent past couldn't prepare her for. But her skills in a boat may have done.

I was instantly captivated by the tale of convict Jenny yet all the way through her story felt very familiar. That's because it is loosely based around the true story of convict woman, Mary Bryant and whose re-hashed memoirs have inspired several fictional works, which I have read before. This is a slightly different take on the same story and well written enough to keep me turning the pages.