I recently had the pleasure of reading Dangerous Women by Hope Adams and I must say, it was an enthralling and captivating read from start to finish.

Set in 19th century London, this historical fiction novel transports readers to a world of danger, deception, and strong-willed women. The story follows a group of convicts on their journey to Australia, but what makes this tale truly unique is the fact that all of the convicts are actually women. Each character has their own distinct personality and backstory, making them all the more intriguing to follow. Adams skillfully weaves together multiple perspectives and timelines, creating a layered and gripping narrative.

The writing is rich and vivid, perfectly capturing the gritty and harsh realities of life in the 1800s. But what truly sets this book apart is the strong and fearless female characters who refuse to be defined by their circumstances. They are complex, flawed, and ultimately, empowering. I found myself completely invested in their stories and rooting for their survival. Overall, Dangerous Women is a masterfully written novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you feeling inspired. I highly recommend it to any fans of historical fiction or those looking for a riveting and empowering read.

This was a great read full of mesmerising description and captivating details. A very immersive book.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I love a bit of intrigued and really loved how it kept me guessing until the very end. The characters were all so complex and interesting and I loved how the stories twined together. Not exactly a happy tale, but certainly an enjoyable one!

Imaginative, compelling, engaging, rich in history and detail and a thoroughly great read!
I loved this book so much that I have now bought the paperback just to have it on my keeper shelf!

Given that this is based on a true story, it feels even more poignant and emotional to read. I loved the depth of the characters, which really draws you in.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to it before it was archived but will review in full when I do.

Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for this Advanced reading copy

Loved the female community, craft uniting and strengthening women! Has a Tracy Chevalier feel (A Single Thread)

This book was just a little too slow for me and I struggled to stay engaged. Disappointing as the premise seemed really interesting.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Michael Joseph for approving me for an ARC of this book.

Set onboard the Rajah this story is told from the POV of three women, Kezia, Clara and Hattie during their 15 week voyage. Towards the end of the journey a horrendous crime is committed against one of the women and through these POV we learn what happened that fatal night.

What struck me first was the fact that all these women were onboard the Rajah because they had committed petty crimes, their punishment was to be sent to Australia to start a new life. I couldn’t believe some of the crimes that had landed these women here especially when compared to our justice system today.

Whilst this story primarily focused on our three narrators we soon learnt more about the other women and what had brought them to the Rajah. In most cases their crimes were committed in desperation and quite often the women themselves were also victims. I really enjoyed getting to know all of the women and felt that they had created a lovely community by the time they reached Australia. Of all the women Clara was my favourite. Her life and reason for being on the ship had a lot of mystery to it and I really enjoyed how her story in particular unfolded.

Whilst the events on board the Rajah were fictional this story was based on real events. Hope Adams masterfully weaves fact and fiction creating a beautiful story rich in history and friendships. I thought for a moment that I had worked out the ending but Hope Adams had a fantastic a chilling twist waiting to surprise me!

Great characters and while the story is good and I did feel immersed in the women's world it didn't keep me captivated enough to make me want to read it all the time.

Dangerous Women by Hope Adams

I watched Sky’s drama Jamestown a couple of years ago, following one of the first colonies set up by British settlers in America. The story begins in 1617 as the male have been settled for 11 years and have set up a town, farms and an administrative board who deal with disputes, lawbreaking and meetings on the development of their settlement. One of the things the men have lobbied for are women and a boat brings over a group of women, each one promised to a man already settled in the colony. However, the women have agreed to these conditions as an alternative to seeing out their prison sentences and rumour has it, that one of them is a murderer. I had that series in mind when I read the blurb for this novel, but it turned out to be so much better and I would love to see it properly adapted.


Set in 1841, we follow one hundred and eighty petty convicts, all sentenced to transportation to Van Deimen’s Land which is present day Tasmania. Kezia Hayter knows these women aren't dangerous and on board the Rajah, Kezia makes it her duty to redeem them, enlisting a select few to create an intricate quilt. Her hope is that with each stitch, they become tied closer together. However, when one woman is murdered, Kezia's work with the women is threatened. She maintains her faith in their innocence, but she cannot lead the investigation and the men who do aren’t so sure. If she doesn’t at least try to find the killer, how can Kezia save them? Dangerous Women is a sweeping tale of confinement, hope and the terrible things we do to survive men. 


The story was based on a real life voyage and the atmosphere created by the author really does take you straight to the heart of what this experience must have been like. Set over a 15 week period and told through the eyes of a handful of the women. It starts with the murder in question, an horrific assault, then takes us back and forth from ‘now’ to ‘then’ so we can build up a picture of what the women are like, how they adapt to the voyage and why they’re there, as well as trying to spot clues as to what caused this terrible act of violence.

Kezia’s group of quilters are at the centre of the story and their objective is to create something they can present to the Governor of Van Diemen’s Land when they reach Hobart. It’s interesting to watch relationships form in this group and hear the circumstances in which they’ve committed their crimes. Often the women have been forced into criminality due to life circumstances, usually poverty and sometimes ill-treatment at the hands of men. None were supposed to have been convicted of murder, but someone has slipped through the net. It’s not hard to feel sympathy for them. We are also introduced to the ship’s crew and prison staff, such as Matron Kezia Hayter who is based on a real person. She seems to have an unshakable belief that these women can change and the recipe is her mix of care, compassion and forgiveness. The rest are men, from the Captain and crew to the ship’s priest. I was very interested in seeing how they treated the women, would there be yet more bad treatment for these vulnerable characters or are they largely honourable in their duties. The male characters really come to the fore during the investigation and it’s here we see the dynamics of these women’s worlds come into play as a microcosm of society as a whole - the women are vulnerable and guilty, and the men have their lives in their hands. It really brought it home to me how it must feel to have no power. As the victim lies in a coma I felt as if the women were under the microscope but no one was investigating the men - this would be a very easy way to disguise a murder, to commit the act on a boat of convicts. The claustrophobic aspect of it really got to me, they are in the middle of the ocean and no one can escape.

While the book was a little slow at first, I knew it would click with me as soon I started to get to know each character’s story. I loved how their stories opened up and also the sense of injustice Adams conveys as we see these women failed by their families, the law and wider society. I thought the depth of research was clear and the way she combined real life events and fiction worked so well. Through her story she tackles women’s lack of agency and the terrible things they have to do to resist and be heard. All this and a gripping mystery too.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. Other readers may enjoy it more, but I could not get into it and ultimately did not finish it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one was such an emotional ride. Thought-provoking, beautifully written, utterly gripping. Historical Fiction at its best.

I read a lot of Historical Fiction. It can sometimes feel repetitive, many books trying to do the same thing, but do it better than each one before it... this one does something different. This was such a heartbreaking, heartwarming read. Yes, both. Equally.

This one is based on a true story, and as such, it makes it all the more impactful. I dare you not to feel for these women, to be completely invested in their story, to perhaps shed a tear or two.

5 emotional stars

This was a book that I was very excited about in 2021 but that - for reasons too dull to explain - got pushed down my reading pile.

I'm so glad I have remedied this now!

The story is set aboard a ship, the Rajah, which is transporting female convicts to Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) in 1841 as sentence for their crimes. On board as a kind of chaperone is Kezia Hayter, a young woman who is determined to see the best in the women and given them purposeful employment on the ship sewing a quilt. However, a brutal attack on one of the sewing circle means that an investigation is launched and Kezia is thrown into a situation she cannot control in the face of the men on the ship determined to root out the attacker.

This book - as I suspected - ticked a lot of the boxes for me. The Victorian-era setting is appealing (even if we are mostly confined to life on the Rajah) and I liked the focus on women's lives and relationships. Adams is quick to portray the female convicts as victims - their crimes a result of poverty or abuse in a political system stacked against working class women. I enjoyed this more thought-provoking but perhaps unconventional take on the situation of those who have been condemned as criminals.

At the heart of the novel, Kezia is a strong protagonist with all the right intentions. She has a kind of awkward role on the ship as she is expected to be in charge of the women (upholding the rulings of the UK justice system and acting accordingly) but also feels a deep empathy for their situations. I loved the humanity in her stance that transportation is their sentence, but that doesn't mean she cannot ease the journey for them. The way that the shared craft project unites and creates pride in the women is beautifully written - and it immediately made me Google the original Rajah Quilt that was produced on the real-life voyage that inspired the book.

The theme of female community and craft uniting and strengthening women reminded me strongly of 'A Single Thread' by Tracy Chevalier, a book that I loved and would recommend if you enjoy 'Dangerous Women'.

The time-line of the novel does shift around a lot, particularly between the days before the attack and the investigation after. This can be a little confusing at times, especially in the early portion of the novel when the separate key characters haven't yet emerged - mercifully, Adams focused on a small sub-group of women on the boat (the sewing group) rather than the entire community of 180 women plus male crew!

However, niggles aside, this is a lively and engaging story that encompasses a central mystery. This definitely kept me reading even if, ultimately, I was more interested in the women's stories and fates rather than the whodunnit. Although Adams explains that her characters are fictional, even if the Rajah and the quilt are real, it certainly gives the reader food for thought about the lives of the nineteenth-century women who were sent away from Britain for their crimes. This is a book that will immerse you into a very specific sense of time and place, but leave you with lingering thoughts on a much wider scale.

I also listened to the audiobook read by Fenella Woolgar which I would recommend. It helped me 'hear' the different characters in a more distinctive way and is read well.

Dangerous Women is a kind of merge between crime mystery and historical. From a personal perspective, I found the general historical aspects far more interesting than the overarching mystery. Other than how it's used to draw out backstory - and that could have been done anyway - I was generally uninterested in the mystery aspects. This is a pity as it is a huge aspect of the novel and I didn't find it that interesting.

The attack on one of the inmates happens fairly early on in the novel and it then follows through on the investigation and attempt to discover which inmate committed the crime. This involves a lot of interviews with the inmates, which are generally fairly repetitive and add very little new information as the inmates say virtually the same as each other. It does take up a lot of the novel and doesn't really add much, other than a minor note of tension and some opportunities to give back story.

The actual historical aspects were fascinating, and I'd have been really interested in this being the focus of the novel rather than the stabbing. I really enjoyed the build up of the relationships between the women and the way their pasts were fleshed out through conversation and dialogue. Their stories were ones of hopelessness and desolation; the crimes they were convicted of often committed to keep them or their children alive.

Based on the true story of the convicts journey to Australia and the creation of a magnificent quilt that is now housed in the National Gallery of Australia, this is a slow paced novel that truly draws you into the harsh conditions the women were forced into and the friendships that were forged on the journey. I do think the novel would be stronger without the crime mystery that's been woven through it as much of that becomes repetitive and tedious, but the historical basis of the bulk of the novel is very strong indeed and makes this worth reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

This book was fine, not great but not terrible. I thought it would have a murder-mystery feel, but it was much more low-key than that, and thus I was disappointed, hoping for a thriller.

This is a richly imagined Victorian mystery, part fiction but also based on true life accounts. A ship load of convicted women are setting sail for Australia, never to return to their homeland again. When one of them is hurt, the hunt is on for the culprit- but everyone is guilty of something. Who can be trusted in such an atmosphere?! The mystery is obviously of the locked room variety as they are aboard a ship and the psychological aspects will keep you thinking- thought provoking! I loved the idea of the quilt they created while on board! An absorbing read!

Fact and fiction are woven together in Dangerous Women, the tale of a group of wretched female convicts who stitch and embroider as they sail to exile in Van Diemen’s Land.

The Rajah quilt is real. Named after the vessel in which the women sailed, it’s a national treasure in Australia, an artefact considered so fragile and precious it’s allowed out of storage only once every year.

Hope Adams uses the creation of this quilt as a backdrop to a locked room kind of murder mystery in which the ship’s captain, doctor, matron and clergyman must identify the guilty party before the vessel docks at Hobart.

The narrative ebbs and flows between two timeframes: ”Then” (the days leading up to the murder of one convict) and ”Now” (the period of the investigation). Together they reveal the past lives of the women whose crimes often amounted to little more than petty theft and their hopes and fears for what lies ahead of them in their new country.

Adams further divides the novel by using three distinctly separate narrative voices. One belongs to the only free woman on board, the matron Miss Kezia Hayter, a kindly, gentle woman associated with the prison reform activities of Elizabeth Fry who firmly believes in the possibility of redemption.

The quilt project is Kezia’s idea, a daily task with a practical purpose: to help calm the women and occupy their minds on the long journey. As a Quaker she believes the project serves a higher purpose; giving them a sense of purpose and self-respect so they can put aside their former lives.

The other voices are those of the stabbed woman Hattie Matthews, and ‘Clara’, a woman whose crime is the most heinous amongst the 180 convicts, She’s assumed the name, the identity and the place of another convict in an attempt to escape the gallows and “leave behind the person I was.” The more we learn of her past, the more we’re led to believe she’s the likely murderer.

Dangerous Women is a tale that unfolds via snippets of information pieced together just as the quit itself is assembled. Stories emerge of abuse, betrayal, infanticide; of women driven to desperate measures to keep themselves alive. Love flourishes and bonds are formed even in the darkest dingiest corners of the ship.

At the end of the voyage, when Kezia looks at the finished quilt, she realises the significance of what has been achieved goes far beyond the physical object.

Hope Adams wisely chose to focus on just a few of the 180 women on the ship. Through them we experience the reality of life on board a convict ship. The cramped conditions below decks with women “packed like apples in a pantry” on narrow hard bunks. The absence of light and fresh air. And the stench of unwashed bodies. In such close proximity jealousies and .rivalries invariably bubble to the surface and it takes all of Kezia’s calm manner and sympathetic ear to prevent tensions spilling out of control.

Dangerous Women gives a very real sense that the women on the ship are victims of a harsh society. Treated as the dregs of society, cast out from their homeland and separated from their families often for committing little more than petty crimes. Some became thieves because they fell into the wrong company, others were put to work by brutal husbands or fathers or turfed out of their jobs when they fell pregnant by the master’s son.

I wish Hope Adams had focused more on this aspect of the story instead of the murder mystery. The “investigation” sections felt an intrusion; a distraction from the more engrossing story of the women; their differing attitudes to the project and to the future; the relationships that form below decks and with the crew and how they view their prospects once in Van Diemen’s Land.

I’d love to know too whether the quilting project did achieve Kezia’s aim. Life in their new country wouldn’t have been easy. Did any of them revert to their previous life of criminality; did they find happiness and a new family? Surprisingly I can’t find any evidence that the real story of the quilting women has ever been the subject of a book. Seems like this would be a project ideally suited to Hallie Rubenhold given her success in bringing to light the untold story of the victims of Jack The Ripper.

Did I enjoy Dangerous Women? I’ll give it a qualified yes. The raw historical information was skilfully used — I especially enjoyed the short descriptions of pieces of the patchwork — and in Kezia Hayter we had a beautifully crafted character. It began strongly and ended poignantly but I thought the novel lost ground in the middle sections, particularly when it dealt with the murder mystery plot. I wouldn’t class it as compelling but I was definitely interested in the background to this piece of history, often turning away from the book to look at the quilt itself, thinking about the individuals who made it and who left their marks upon the fabric.

I adored this novel, it's well researched and written and importantly shines a light on a group of women that were transported to Australia that are overlooked in history. I knew nothing about the Rajah quilt made by the women on their voyage to Australia before reading this and I am grateful to the author for the introduction to this. Recommended for fans of historical crime fiction.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC .

2.5 stars

In 1841, a ship called the Rajah leaves London filled with nearly two hundred convicted women being shipped to Tasmania for their crimes.
As the Rajah makes it way south across the sea, some of the women are chosen by the ship's matron to work together to make a patchwork quilt.
But not all of the women will survive the journey . . .

I always like reading books set at sea, but this novel didn't live up to my hopes, unfortunately.
There were three main characters - Kezia, the ship's matron, Harriet, whose son had been allowed to join her on the voyage, and Clara, who didn't want her fellow shipmates to discover her past. They were all interesting characters and I enjoyed finding out more about them all. While I didn't feel that I developed a connection to any of them, I did find myself more drawn to Kezia and Harriet.
My favourite thing about the novel is that it's based on a voyage that actually happened, and real women who made a quilt that is being displayed in Australia.
The setting of the ship was interesting and it succeeded in making the story feel very confined, but this also limited what could happen.
The plot was quite slow and not much really happened over the length of the novel. While I did enjoy it for the most part, I did lose interest a couple of times. Friendship was a big theme and I did like reading as the women got to know each other and made friends. It couldn't have been easy for them being cooped up on a ship for several months on the way to a strange country, not knowing when or if they would see their families again.
The writing style was easy to follow.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was a mixed read.