A MOST CAPRICIOUS WHIM

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Summary

From Heaven to Hell via the First Fleet. The story of a love that surpasses all boundaries, despite being subjected to the worst horrors the world, and a murderous nemesis can inflict. At Michaelmas 1786, Thomas Walsh’s peaceful existence is ripped apart, at the very moment when he expects life to improve dramatically. He is falsely accused by the usurper Lord of the Manor, Silas Rainforde, sentenced to transportation to New Holland, and torn from his beloved wife, Martha. The terrifying ordeal of a disastrous voyage is only the beginning of the torture and torment, since Rainforde has paid assassins to murder him, his wife, and his son. Flogged, and dragged away to what he knows will be certain death, Thomas jumps from a moving ship into shark-filled waters, and attempts to escape. Tracked by relentless pursuers, he is shot, terribly mutilated by fire, and left for dead. He is reported killed. Martha marries Lt Sloane, one of the men Rainforde paid to kill her and Thomas, but who became their friend, and begins a new family. Thomas, with the help of an aborigine friend, survives – a grotesque outcast from civilisation in the Outback, living as a member of an aborigine group, and with a new family himself, with two seemingly impossible desires burning constantly in his mind: taking revenge on Silas Rainforde, half a world away, and having Martha beside him once more.

Status
Complete
Chapters
62
Rating
5.0 3 reviews
Age Rating
18+

Untitled chapter

AUTHOR’S NOTES OF LIBERTIES TAKEN: 1. Although Captain Phillip, later to be Admiral and First Governor of New South Wales, was interviewed by the other officials mentioned at the Admiralty, Earl Sandwich is unlikely to have been present in person, having by that time retired from that body, although he undoubtedly had a hand in the scheme. 2. The English Leicester breed of sheep was not introduced into Australia until 1826. 3. The name ‘Australia’ is used by characters in this book, but was not in general use until 1820, though it was referred to in general terms two hundred years before. 4. Semaphore was not invented until 1792.