A little spoilt by the narration

This is a typical Jock Serong novel - a thoroughly researched, slowly revealed and very believable plot. As with all his writing, you are left feeling bereft and also devastated at the injustices of life.

The story was spoilt a bit for me by the narrator’s very dodgy Scottish accents. I stopped listening sometimes because it was too excruciating and it took me a long time to get into the story and be able to ignore his weird and twisting attempts to sound Scottish.

I mean no offence to the narrator … I can’t do a Scottish accent either!!

Highly recommend the book but maybe not the Audible version.

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A chillingly dark story of what might have been the truth of ship wreck in early NSW

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1 person found this helpful

a great piece of history

great story although I had trouble hearing it sometimes with the quiet voices and I listen while driving trucks

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Slow start, interesting in the end

I do enjoy these historical stories. I found this very slow to start. Although the narration was excellent, I do believe this book would be better in the reading than listening. I found it difficult to stay focused on the story at times.

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A Ripping Yarn

Jock Serong has woven an incredible story into the truths that are hidden and exposed in the Australian geography, landscapes, it’s coastal environs and it’s first peoples - indigenous and newer.

Told with authenticity, a heinous voyage, an impossible trek and the compelling intelligence and psychology of a violent psychopath blended with insight of how non Anglo people may have interacted with the Indigenous peoples and how the land and seascapes must have been before the new peoples arrival changed everything.

Serong sets the scene for his sequels beautifully but also for the subsequent evolution of Australia and the root of our social fabric.

This book is a National treasure.

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I found myself Researching The Sydney Cove

Alison Huber put it best:
Preservation is a skilful and, most importantly, very entertaining work of imagination, full of tension and menace, that keeps the reader sweating over what will become of the protagonists until the very end. A more odious villain than the imposter tea merchant, Figge, could hardly be imagined: he and another unreliable survivor hinder attempts by officials in Sydney to understand exactly what happened. Serong uses all his crime-writing tricks of the trade in this literary novel, and it’s hugely effective. This is the kind of historical fiction writing that makes the reader wonder where the ‘real’ past ends and invention begins
Alison Huber, Head Buyer at Readings

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2 people found this helpful

Amazing telling of first indigenous encounters

I loved how the narrators have described the encounters with the indigenous peoples. The accounts of cultivations, settlements, fire techniques, etc. Stories not often told in Shipwreck novels. Great job Jock!

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1 person found this helpful

couldn't finish

I love love love Jock Serong's other books, but this was just too raw. The violence stayed with me days and nights. Obviously well written and spoken to have such an impact but so sad and the villain so sick. I hoped for redemption at the end but I couldn't finish.

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5 people found this helpful