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.