Normally books with many different character voices and/or switching from one period of a time to another doesn't phase me. This book however, had me beat. I found it very hard to figure out who was who and when. I tried hard but couldn't engage with it. I found it dreary.

I have just finished reading the historical note at the end of this book and I am astonished that this book is loosely based on a real voyage.

This story follows the journey of the Rajah,a Ship that sailed in the 1810s carrying hundreds of English female convicts to their new life in Tasmania. A group of 18 of those convicts selected by the Matron Kezia Hayter are invited to work on a coverlet that they will present to royalty when they dock in Tasmania. However when one of the lucky 18 is stabbed, the journey takes a sickening and dark turn.

This is historical fiction at its best. It’s rooted in an actual factual voyage and some of the names of the characters are the same. But it also transcends the historical fiction genre with the who dunnit and why dunnit elements.

This novel is rich and expansive but not unnecessarily length or stilted. I felt like this book gave me a lot as a reader and made me feel like I was viscerally in the story. The claustrophobia of the cabin, the smell of the lower decks, the tempestuous weather of the storms. I would highly recommend giving this book a go if your looking to pick up more historical fiction.

Thanks to the author Hope Adams, Penguin UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I requested this book I expected the crime mystery to be stronger and the women more worried by events than they appeared to be. I like that it is based upon a true event, the sailing of the Rajah from England to Tasmania in 1841. Elizabeth Fry provided a woman Kezia Hayter to accompany the female convicts who were being transported. Her role also encouraged some of the women to be involved in quilting a coverlet. This gave the women something to be proud of to pass the time and also develop a skill for the future. The story is well told as it is written in chapters that switch back and forwards in time during the voyage. The murder of a convict is actually a smaller mystery than I expected and the women less dangerous. However I enjoyed the book.

This story had me intrigued I loved the idea is was based on a real ship and a famous tapestry but sadly it didn't engage me so I had to shelve 50% in so I wont be reviewing on good read or amazon as I wont review a story I couldn't finish as I feel its unfair.

YESSS. I love a well researched historical fiction so this was a massive hit for me. I knew nothing of the Rajah quilt before this book and have been thoroughly entranced by the story of it - I cant wait to do my own research into it now!

The story itself is a great page turner, I felt that it moved at a really nice pace and the fictional aspect of the plot was exciting and a great murder mystery that kept me guessing throughout. A real joy to read. 5/5.

This is an interesting mystery / historic novel set in the time period when Britain was transporting relatively minor criminals to Australia. It charts a ship carrying over a hundred women to Hobart in Tasmania.

I enjoyed the book. The initial premise of the book is that one of the characters is stabbed (likely fatally) somewhere in the southern oceans and the remainder of the voyage is a whodunit while the reader and the cast try to work out who is the killer and why.

The narration flips backwards and forwards in time and between a number of the characters and the gradual disclosure takes you one way and then another as you get incrementally more of the motives and rationales.

This is set against the background of the main character, Kezia who is choosing to be on the ship (unlike all the other women) and is on a personal mission to improve the lot of the other through the medium of a joint needlework endeavour.

I really enjoyed this book reading it in only two or three sessions. I am hoping to visit Australia and the quilt when we are allowed, however, I will not be going by boat. I have been reading about the slave ships recently and was surprised to learn about relatively good conditions on the Rajah. I hope this really happened. The facts at the end of the book suggest this might have been true with so few deaths during the voyage.

This is an historical mystery based on fact. The characters are well drawn and develop over time. There are a few twists along the way and romance. The two time frames and different characters talking is sometimes a little confusing but it does add to the tension.. The mystery is solved and after much soul searching for some of the characters, the loose ends are tied up. I do wonder whether in the real world whether things would have ended satisfactorily for all as they do in the book, this is fiction based on limited facts and so the ending is justified. A factual book would be very different I feel.

I shall look out for other books by this author.

Really enjoyed the back and forth with each chapter, in terms of narrator and timescale. I also loved the history behind the story.

In recent years I’ve gravitated to reading more books by women authors which brings with it more female protagonists. Sometimes it feels as though the effort to highlight women’s stories from the past and create interesting female characters in historical fiction is forced and perhaps unrealistic – how many put upon and sheltered women really had the opportunity to make a living for themselves or do something daring? In Dangerous Women, however, Hope Adam’s cast is ready-made: a ship with, yes, a male crew but among the passengers 200 women sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) for relatively minor crimes such as theft, along with a representative of the British Ladies’ Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners which stemmed from the work of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.
The events in Dangerous Women and the names of the convicts may be fictional but there really was a quilt made during the journey and presented to the governors’ wife Jane Franklin, the work overseen by Kezia Hayter, relative of the royal court painters John, George and Charles.
We know from the beginning that someone will be mortally wounded, but the identity of the attacker is kept hidden until quite near the end. By switching between timelines and using different narrators, we slowly get to know each woman’s story and find out what happened on board the Rajah. It’s a clever mixture of a whodunnit and a locked-room puzzle, all set on the high seas. I thought the characters’ backstories were interesting and varied, and I didn’t figure out the culprit among the possible candidates. I recommend this if you’re interested in a historical novel with a different setting.

1841, the Rajah - a sailing ship - is transporting 180 female convicts from England to Van Diemans land, now known as Tasmania.
On board is a young woman called Kezia Hayter. Kezia is the matron charged with the care and improvement of the prisoners and is tasked with teaching the women the art of sewing in the hopes that the making of a quilt will provide a means of employment on the long journey.
As the ship sails away we see friendships blossom between the women, and one lady has a dark secret that she'll do almost anything to keep.
The story is told through the eyes of Kezia and three of the convicts, and there's a murder thrown in for good measure.
I loved this, you really feel for these women who are forced into crime to survive.
This is based on a true story and the quilt is on display in the National Gallery of Australia. The author changed the names of the convicts, as some of the descendents of the real women still live in Australia.

In 1841, the barque Rajah sets sail for what is now Tasmania with 200 female convicts on board. Unbeknownst to passengers and crew, a killer is among them. Based on a true story.

An intriguing story shipwrecked by lacklustre writing. The reliance on dialogue and internal monologue to explain the story - 'Or could someone have given her a drug, such as the one I'd used to silence the real Sarah Goodbourne?' - gives this the feel of a Scooby Doo-style unmasking of the villain..

The wooden dialogue is straight out of a mockney musical, with secondary characters chirruping one cliché after another.

I'm never fond of extensive use of italics, and this was no exception.

Fails to engage the reader.

Disappointing.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK.for the ARC.

My first read of 2021 and what a great start!!

I really enjoyed it! It’s slightly different to my go to reads but the description pulled me in. A bit of history, crime and thriller? And it didn’t disappoint!

I could really picture being on the ship and the characters. So much so I’d love it to be a series or movie! I could even imagine what the characters would be wearing and the sea.

There was quite a lot of characters In a small space and usually I get confused when there’s so many but Hope managed to keep it easy to understand. I liked how it flipped from different characters perspectives and past and present.

Overall fantastic read! I can’t wait to seek out more of Hope’s work :)

An enjoyable read and nice to see historical fiction focused on the lives of women. As a who-dunnit it fell a little short for me at the end, but I found the snippets of the women's' lives before their transportation really fascinating and well written. I also really enjoyed the language and turns of phrase used by the author - it felt ery authentic to me.

A good story which takes a part of history and creates a fictional story within those historical realities. We are taken back to 1841, on the ship Rajah, as close to 200 female convicts are transported from England to Tasmania where they are due to live their new lives. Whilst on board, a murder is committed and attempts are made to find out who the culprit is. There is an interesting story line, as we start to see how the women relate to each other and the ships crew. We share their concerns about leaving their lives behind and their hopes for the future. All in all this creates an enjoyable multi-faceted story that keeps you hooked until the end. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC. Recommended.

A really enjoyable story, based on the history of the Rajah carrying women convicts to what is now Tasmania. The story unfolds through the eyes of some of the convicts and the matron on the ship, showing how women of the time were unfairly treated. The story of the quilt gives a poignant insight into everyone’s lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Hope Adams, mention historical women’s fiction and I’m there but add in patchwork and quilting? I am ALL in for that!
I have read various books about transportation and the early penal colonisation of Australia before but hadn’t heard of the Rajah or its famous quilt top. I urge anyone reading this book to Google the quilt as the size of it has to be seen to be believed!
I found the novel slightly confusing at first as without being introduced to the characters we were thrown headlong into the crux of the entire novel, one of the female convicts being stabbed presumably by a fellow prisoner. The character being described in the opening paragraphs speaks of wishing she hadn’t known something and that she wishes she was the person she had been that morning setting the scene for the mystery of the novel. I found opening the book with the middle of the story an interesting idea, often a prologue is actually told from a present day or after the event standpoint but the stabbing in this novel falls pretty much into the centre of the timeline. Enough of my waffling, I’m sure it isn’t even remotely confusing if you aren’t starting it very late at night/early in the morning within a few minutes of ending the previous, very different style of novel!!
I loved the characters in the book, though there was a slightly cliched romantic storyline and the ubiquitous early feminist struggles I fell totally in love with Kezia who’s shyness is shoved down and hidden, who’s charitable and accepting disposition drives everything she does. We now know a great deal about how shared crafting offers an opportunity for people to speak when normally they would be intimidated and how good it is for various mental health issues but the fact that the likes of Mrs Fry and Kezia knew that then is quite remarkable. Adams skilfully weaves this knowledge into the days of her fictional characters voyage, we find out about the women’s emotional struggles, their pasts, their desires and loves and the nastier sides of many of them.
The male characters are mainly sympathetic apart from Revd Davies who is probably a much more realistic portrayal of a man of that period but Mr Donovan and the Captain are great characters who care about the prisoners so I was glad they were on Kezia’s team as was I!
As a mystery story it was brilliant. I was fairly sure whodunnit and why and I was right but I was never sure if I was because of the well placed red herrings.
I do wish we’d seen the women’s lives in Australia even if it was just a quick epilogue. This is the second book I’ve reviewed this month where I’ve wanted a sequel!

In 1841, aboard a ship transporting female prisoners convicted of petty crimes from London to Van Dieman’s Land, a woman is stabbed and left for dead. Almost all of the passengers are guilty of something and it seems one of them is willing to commit murder to conceal their past. But why? And can the crew find the culprit before the ship arrives at its destination?

‘Dangerous Women’ follows the journey of the ‘Rajah’, the ship on which nearly two-hundred women are being transported to start a new life on the other side of the world. As well as trying to leave behind their criminal pasts, they are also leaving behind everyone they knew, loved ones and people best left forgotten. As well as the captain and his crew, accompanying the women on board is Kezia Hayter, a women’s prison reformer turned matron, who brings together a select group of the women to complete a very special sewing and embroidery project.

As the story – and the quilt - progresses, we learn more about this group of women, some of the other convicts, the ship’s crew and about Kezia. I enjoyed discovering the different backgrounds and personalities of the women, and at times it felt like I was sitting in their sewing circle on the deck of the ship, listening in!

The structure of the novel travels in time between the present and the recent past, either before their time on the ship or in the early days of the sailing, and I do like this kind of structure in the novels I read. I also loved the historical element and setting of the novel as well as the ‘whodunnit’ plot line and these combined, along with the snatches of romantic intrigue between some of the passengers, made for a really interesting, enjoyable read. The historical note at the end of the book reveals that there is a great deal in this novel that is based on real events; the name of the ship and those of the doctor, cleric and matron are all real, as is - of course - the quilt that was created. The stabbing and other key parts of the resulting plot have been invented by the author.

This is the first novel under this name by an already established author and, based on ‘Dangerous Women’, I’ll certainly be keen to read what Hope Adams writes next. She has taken a fascinating aspect of history and delivered a novel that is both gripping and thoughtful and also clearly well researched. Thank you to the publishers, Penguin Michael Joseph, and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy in return for this review.

This novel cleverly encompasses the true story of the transport of the female convicts on board the Rajah to Tasmania in 1841, combining fact with fictional accounts of life on board, and the mystery of the death of one passenger.

This is much more than a whodunnit, as the background stories of ‘then’ and ‘now’ interweave allowing the reader some speculation as to the reason for the attack on board the ship.

The historical note in the afterward was truly fascinating and the quilt from the voyage now hangs in the National Gallery of Australia.

Inspired by the true story of women prisoners transported in 1841 from England to Tasmania, Hope Adams has imagined a tale of murder and intrigue, of people who are not always who they appear to be.
After a slow start introducing characters Adams develops their back stories and picks up the pace to deliver an unusual historical novel confined to the voyage of the ship Rajah.

This is a story about a ship full of women who are being transported from prison in Britain to Tasmania (then Van Diemans Land) in 1841. Their crimes seem quite trivial – mainly theft, but of small amounts of food, or clothing. This is an imagining of a real voyage which the author Adele Geras has researched. The central focus for the women on the long voyage is creating a quilt, all hand stitched, which can still be seen in the British Museum.

It is also a mystery, but a somewhat genteel one. The women all seem quite pleasant and gentle, I’m not sure it is an accurate reflection of Victorian female thieves but I quite liked the gentleness. Even though a woman is stabbed (which is the mystery), somehow it is all rather restrained and not particularly violent.
We focus on about eight main characters and get to know them through the voyage, their background, what led them to jail and thus to transportation. It is as much as anything a book about female relationships and perseverance.

It was enjoyable to read and interesting for being based on a real voyage.