Wednesday, August 26, 2020
The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline
THE
EXILES by Christina Baker Kline (The Orphan Train) is another wonderful work of historical fiction, offering
the story of the beginnings of Australia through the eyes of two convicts, Evangeline
and Hazel, and those of Mathinna, daughter of an indigenous chief. The novel begins in London with Evangeline, a young, naïve
governess, who is unfairly sent to Newgate Prison and weaves in the story of
Hazel, sentenced for stealing a spoon. The two are exiled to Australia and much
of the novel concerns their difficult ocean passage, circa 1840. Readers will
feel both anger and compassion for the young women who are transformed by their
circumstances. Kline describes Evangeline by saying, “She’d learned that she
could withstand contempt and humiliation – and that she could find moments of
grace in the midst of bedlam.” Mathinna, too, struggles with separation from
her tribe and draws on inner strength and memories of her deceased mother who
told her, “You carry the people and places you cherish with you. Remember that
and you will never be lonely, child.” Kline does an excellent job of drawing in
readers – not just to the time and place, but also to issues of women’s rights
and social justice. In the author’s
notes, she explains, “three disparate strands of my own life history [helped]
to tell the story: a transformative six weeks in Australia in my mid-twenties;
the months I spent interviewing mothers and daughters for a book about
feminism; and my experience teaching women in prison.” THE EXILES received a
starred review from Kirkus.
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