Discuss the new book --- any comments here please.

[Zillah Estelle (Kable) Campbell -- John "the Boxer".]

The new book on Henry and Susannah

[Zillah Estelle (Kable) Campbell -- John "the Boxer".]

Yes we can buy the book from UK at Old Forge Publications. I ordered one over the weekend but the daily exchange rate means the price will fluctuate each day. I paid $53-40 but it went up a dollar or so in the following 24 hours so expect that to happen.

[Anne Narelle B]

I received my copy of the book "Enduring Spirit" today in the mail - Yay!! Naturally at this point I have not yet read the entire book. It appears to be Henry and Susannah's story back in England, the trial, prison, boarding the first fleet, the voyage etc, culminating in the their arrival and marriage in Australia.

To quote one small paragraph;

"The following day Henry found himself seated next to Governor Phillip in a longboat as they made their way to the shore in the new harbour. Captain Cook had noted the inlet in 1770 but had not explored it. Phillip was desperately hoping for a better place in which to begin the new Colony. When the boat touched gravel some twenty feet from the shore, Phillip insisted on going ahead of his men as he had at Botany Bay. However, as he was wearing a favoured pair of buckled shoes he ordered Henry to carry him through the surf. Henry got the Governor to a dry spot on the beach before lowering him down on the sand."

I know this story has caused much conjecture and research over the years, so this being included in the book is interesting.

I think I am in for a long night of reading :)

Anne Baines

[Zillah Estelle (Kable) Campbell -- John "the Boxer".]

I am not finished the book yet-- isn't it curious that Len has added the contraversial story re Henry first ashore!! The Cavanough family will go spare if they hear about that. !!!!

[Jay O'Val]

I just think it's amazing that another person who isn't related to us wants to write about our ancestors! That means something rather important in terms of the interesting lives our forebears led and the impact they had. An enormously important point is that their impact would have been much reduced if they hadn't been transported. Coming here to Australia and how their lives changed here added the zing to their story.

I think the book is a rollicking good read! It's fiction so I don't mind any factual inaccuracies. It doesn't concern me that people might believe it to be exact. Anyone thinking fiction is fact shouldn't read fiction! That's not what fiction is about. I haven't finished reading it yet, but including the story of Henry carrying Phillip ashore is fine, simply because this is a novel. There's no documentary evidence for anyone carrying him ashore, just a whole lot of family stories (I now know of 3 families who make this claim), so including the story in a novel is just fine.

Our ancestors impact on Australian society is something I find quite amazing. It's true that most people don't know our ancestors names at all, never heard of them, but so many things started with them. Prisoners having legal rights is probably the biggest and it changed the law enough that it became distinctly different to England. Could write a whole essay with all the things I've learned since I took up researching my tree again, but suffice here to say it's all the bits of their lives added up together that had an impact on England and Australia and made such an interesting story that way over 200 years later strangers become interested, write articles and books and create whole folk operas!!

On a more humorous note: being on a crowded peak hour train and confronted with ancestors having hot sex!!! Screech, giggle, groan! Made my eyes blink! Kinda made me want to pull the book up a bit so my neighbor couldn't read over my shoulder! And laughing at myself the whole time for having such a prudish reaction! Goodness me ...

[Zillah Estelle (Kable) Campbell -- John "the Boxer".]

Perfectly said Jay!! Yes quite a novel in all.!! Len has made a great contribution to our knowledge of the first fleet difficulties which is a hard story to tell any time. I think he may be the first person to relate such a lengthy voyage in such detail to make us remember just how hard it really must have been. the voyage was such a success and we should never forget what it has done for us as the settlers in this country. His final pages at the summing up at the end says such a lot. I surely hope when the book is released here it causes a BIG sensation in any way we can think!!

I have no knowledge of whether Len has written books before this but his style and detail are truly fabulous-- keeping us glued to the pages all the way. I also loved the surprise ending as it was rather difficult to see what would happen even when we know the true ending once they arrive. He spun a tale earlier that fitted so well at the end and that's the sign of a very clever writer.!! I am now hoping Thomas Keneally reads this one after telling me he was a great fan he is of Henry and the stories. Now it is time to anticipate whether Len will launch into a sequel. I'm sure we will all be right behind him!! Len is clever chappie indeed!! Congratulations Len. !!!!!-- Kable descendants should not miss this tale.
Jay had to laugh at you going all prudish in the train--this one to be read in private?-- no that's taking it too far LOL

[Jay O'Val]

Look who I ran into today, quite a coincidence! She's at Cranebook.

[Jay O'Val]

Well, having finally found the time to finish the book I now have mixed feelings about it. While I thought of it as a good tale, and I wasn't and still am not worried about the inaccuracies about Henry and Susannah's lives, after all it is a novel, I find the portrayal of Aboriginal people towards the end of the book to be insensitive at the least. The source of the descriptions may have been the journals and descriptions by people at the time, and I have come across some of them myself, but it could have been a good idea to keep in mind that they had attitudes back then that wouldn't be seen to be appropriate today. I can see that the author might have wanted to portray something that was relevant to 1788, but I found it incredibly embarrassing to read those descriptions without any sort of critique.

Imagine an Aboriginal person reading the book. How do you think they would feel when they got to that section? We need to put ourselves in the shoes of others we write about.

We do have Aboriginal members of The Mob. Our lines have crossed. Personally I'd be embarrassed to offer this book to our Aboriginal cousins. At the least I'd want to warn them to be prepared before they read it.