The convict's daughter - Kiera Lindsey

One wet autumn evening in 1848, fifteen-year-old Mary Ann Gill stole out of a bedroom window in her father's Sydney hotel and took a coach to a local racecourse. There she was to elope with James Butler Kinchela, wayward son of the former Attorney-General. Her enraged father pursued them on horseback and fired two pistols at his daughter's suitor, narrowly avoiding killing him.
What followed was Australia's most scandalous abduction trial of the era, as well as an extraordinary story of adventure and misadventure, both in Australia and abroad. Through humiliation, heartache, bankruptcy and betrayal, Mary Ann hung on to James' promise to marry her.
This is a compelling biography of a currency lass born when convicts were still working the streets of Sydney. Starting with just a newspaper clipping, historian Kiera Lindsey has uncovered the world of her feisty great, great, great-aunt, who lived and loved during a period of dramatic social and political change.

Kiera Lindsey has a passion for Australian history. She has worked in the Australian film and television industries and presented a history program on ABC Radio. She has also published a regular column in The Adelaide Review. She lectures in Australian history at the University of South Australia and was the winner of the inaugural Greg Dening Memorial Prize.

A wonderfully vivid and pacey tale of passion, scandal and big ideas.
Michael Cathcart, presenter of ABC Radio National's Books & Arts

Kiera Lindsey takes the facts of this story of her great, great, great-aunt, places them in the turbulent politics of the time, and fleshes them out with a decent but fair dose of imagination. Like her rebellious ancestor, she flouts convention with flair.
Australian Women's Weekly