A review by colleenoakes
The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

5.0

While historical fiction is not normally my jam, a lack of a library while moving made me look towards donated books from my mother-in-law, who suggested this gem. I loved it!

The Exiles is the story of three women who are banished from their land - one Aboriginal child, and two female convicts - and sent to the new wild of Australia. The cruelty that we submitted humans to in that day and age for minor offenses is mind-blowing. This book does a great job of illuminating the hell that women prisoners lived through during that time - and the abuses of society that raised them to end up there.

Without giving away too much of the story, I have to mention the fantastic twist in the middle of the book that is SO unexpected and so well done.