The Gallows Bird

by Barbara Sumner

London 1838: The cast-out child of an aristocratic mother, Hannah 'Birdie' Bird is a laundry maid with a hidden past and a suspicion that the wealthy family she serves is hers.

Longing for beauty and liberation, Birdie risks everything to change her circumstances. She falls into love and crime, committing an audacious silk heist. When she is betrayed, she finds herself swept into a wave of female convicts, transported to the ends of her known world.

The journey to the early Australian settlement drives the women to deepest despair. Birdie finds moments of wonder in even this darkest hour, and forms deep bonds of solidarity with her fellow prisoners. But greater than even the trials onboard is the fear of what awaits them in Sydney Cove.

What chance does Birdie have of beating the odds? Can she fight her way to the freedom and life she longs for so fiercely?

Drawn from the rarely celebrated true stories of female convicts, The Gallows Bird vividly evokes a far-off time. This striking debut tells the story of enduring love and friendship, and the bold, wildly underestimated women who refused to let history dictate the boundaries of their lives.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Historical

416 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2024

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the day of her 13th birthday Hannah Bird, known as Birdie, becomes the under-laundry maid at Angus Hall. After 1 year probation, she will be granted ½ a day leave per month from the arduous workload and dark, dank, rat infested corridors. She shares a bed in the attic with meek Mary who accepts her servitude, her daily food and shelter assured. Birdie aspires to better her circumstances, believing that 'the world could turn, and we could become them'. Birdie had been taught to read and speak French by her mother who had been banished from the ancestral home with nothing but her baby and a red silk gown.
At night she reads aloud the Penny Dreadfuls 'borrowed' from the family's indulged daughter, and when she meets the enigmatic Joe Birdie fears she's stepped into a plot  'where lowly servant meets charming cad'. She and Joe plan a future together, but treachery and a silk heist gone horribly wrong results in transportation for the term of her natural life. Only the Antipodean quota saves her from the gallows.
The shipboard conditions are fetid, enforced marriages to sailors for the duration of the voyage imposed. By luck, Birdie escapes such a union but is again subjected to the iniquity in Sydney where ticket of leave convicts can purchase a wife from the Female Factory workhouse.
Birdie is irrepressible, optimistic and a little bit feisty. Her friendships are strong, but so too are her enmities. Can she overcome harsh treatment, grueling conditions and malice to beat the odds?
Reminiscent of Marcus Clarke's classic, but with a female protagonist, Barbara Sumner's debut presents the brutalities against women with poignancy. And with colour, that thanks to Birdie, we can smell.
#BRPreview

[Brit McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Better Reading and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for a review. Apologies it's a bit late!

The Gallows Bird follows the saga of young Hannah 'Birdie' Bird, the daughter of an outcast aristocrat who just can't let go of her previous life. Despite having to take a position as an Under Laundry Maid in just the sort of house her mother once lived in, Birdie has high hopes for improving her own position. But watching her pine is awkward for the reader, who watches Birdie do very silly things and end up on a convict ship bound for Australia.

I really struggled to get on board for this story. It felt like such a long book with little payoff. The reader is told a lot and shown very little. I couldn't work out how I was supposed to believe Birdie fell in love with Joe when that whole storyline felt rushed and there was such little emotional connection, I thought the "illicit love" spoken of on the cover was still to come. I also found it hard to read how special Birdie was convinced she was, when really all I knew she was good at was laundry - about which she spoke about extensively. So much detail in the laundry and not enough heart in the relationships between the characters. I also found the dialogue to be clunky and sometimes there were leaps in a scene that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

This is definitely an important part of history but it's also a little depressing as well, so maybe it was partly a case of wrong book at the wrong time. Someone else may really enjoy this but it wasn't for me.

[Joanna Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Better Reading for my preview copy.

I did enjoy The Gallows Bird and found it an easy read. I did feel though that it was disjointed at times and hard to follow The writer had a lot of strong topics that she wanted to cover but they became superficial stories without depth as they become rushed from one to the next and at times the story became hard to follow. This made it difficult to connect to the characters and would have liked to delve into parts of the story line a lot more as I think Birdie could have had a really great story to tell.

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Pantera Press for sending us a copy to read and review.
History harnesses some dark stories particularly in a period where survival was triumphant as poverty and harsh laws presided.
The nineteenth century in London conjures awful images as an overcrowded and hungry population did what they could to survive.
Crime punishable by death or transportation to the colonies.
Birdie was born into money and raised a servant girl.
Instinctively she craved finer things in life and desired clothing to reinstate her heritage.
Determined to change her destiny she falls in love and commits a brazen crime.
Her notoriety, her good grace and her cleverness ensured her safe passage on the convict ship that brought her to Australia.
A fate, an alien land and a penal system that will test her resolve as she adjusts.
A story that celebrates the strength and tenacity female convicts had and the loyalty that formed.
Such traits that help define a new nation.
A debut that takes the reader back through time effortlessly and enlightens the senses with the smells, sights and sounds of a time where humanity was yet to be enlightened.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

*https://www.instagram.com/mrsb_book_r...

Writer and filmmaker Barbara Sumner presents The Gallows Bird, her magnificent debut novel. A story of resilience, hardship, desperation, comradery and dispossession, The Gallows Bird is a very moving tale rooted in historical fact.

🐦‍⬛This is the incredible but also grim story of Hannah ‘Birdie’ Bird. A laundry maid based at an opulent manor house, Birdie is caught in a class and gender system of the time that sees her shipped off for work on the other side of the world as a female convict. What follows is a yarn of grit, survival, change, betrayal, despair and destiny. At the heart of the journey is Birdie, a woman who stands for so many female figures of this time. It is high time we listened to the stories of the female convicts and their will to survive in the harshest of conditions. I have a greater sense of respect, empathy, understanding and education around female servants, convicts and female factories at the time of settlement in Australia thanks to this well-crafted novel.

🐦‍⬛Having visited a female factory in Tasmania some years ago and having read a few books in the past on transportation of convicts from England to Australia I did think I was quite well versed in this topic area. However, Sumner opened my eyes to finer detail and wider experiences when it comes to this rather hard-hitting subject area. Nothing is swept under the carpet from the prologue right through until the close of the novel. Like a number of other reviewers before me taking part in this tour, I was moved by the transportation scenes on the ship Birdie boards from England to Australia. Harrowing, real and still full of moments where the women bond like sisters, this particular component was the true standout piece of the novel.

🐦‍⬛Thank you to Barbara for sharing Birdie’s story with us, it is so important to our cultural heritage as a nation that we air these female histories to the world.

My thanks to @panterapress, Yasmine and the team at @dmcprmedia.

[Liat M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah Bird (Birdie) has lived her life with her mother Helena in the poorer streets of London. On her thirteenth birthday, she is sent away to work as an under-laundry maid as her ailing mother can no longer care for her.

It is here that she develops ideals beyond her station and is betrayed and sentenced to deportation to the far away port of Sydney in Australia.

While there were parts to this story I definitely enjoyed, I found the story fairly disjointed and almost trying to do too much. Birdie had a brilliant backstory and I wish that had been played out a little more especially with the others in the house. Her story ended up feeling disjointed and her time there ended quite abruptly without any kind of closure.

I did enjoy the perspective of the female convicts arriving in Australia. It’s not something we read about often and I found the women’s stories interesting. I wish that this had been developed more within the book as we don’t know much about what happened to the women once they arrived in Australia.

Thank you to Better Reading Australia, the publishers and author for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Mars · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this book; female convicts are so widely ignored both in fiction and the history books, the horrors they faced relatively ignored due to the stereotypes held against them, however this book just wasn't it for me at all.

First I tried reasoning it was the fault of the editor - grammar mistakes, weird pacing, and scenes that weren't super clear what was going on even in the fifth read over. Eventually I had to see it for what it was. A Mary Sue character, weird synesthesia that seems to connect our MC with their family only to do nothing for the until the epilogue, characters that exist just to further the plot along and make the MC suffer, a completely unlikeable love interest and completely illogical character decision, and to top it all off, an ending that is completely unrealistic and downright fantastical, only for a four page epilogue that ruins it all and makes them suffer (only for them to get happy again in literally the last page).

I won't give this book one star because it did draw me in and I finished it with relative ease, but I just cannot rate it any higher than I have.

The most disappointing part is that the author obviously cares about her characters and her story; the research done into this topic is evident from the very first page to the very last, but if you are going to write on a topic as horrific as the treatment of the women convicts, you have to be ok with your characters suffering for good.

[M Barna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birdie’s story starts when she arrives at a wealthy house to work in the laundry. Her entire focus has been on finding her maternal grandparents who were wealthy and kicked her mother out after she had given birth in secret. Her mum felt fairly (understandably) bitter about this and Birdie seemed to take on the cause. She has fantasies of basically being returned to wealth and she seems fairly taken with fashion in the upper classes.

She falls in with a bad crowd while on her half day - Joe and Eve. As it turns out, Birdie was their mark with Joe being the seducer and Eve running the show in the background. They use Birdie to let them into her house where they steal from her employers and then use her again to help them steal silk - at which time an old man is beaten to death. Joe tells Birdie they’re going to run off and start a life together - turns out he is already married to Eve, which Eve reveals when she catches them together. Eve tells Joe to get rid of Birdie, he tells Birdie to scream and run so he can pretend it’s done and before he gets a chance, they’re raided by cops. Eve gets away, Joe is shot and Birdie arrested.

Birdie gets sentenced to Australia for the remainder of her natural life and as it turns out Joe survived and is on the same ship with an injured leg from the gunshot. Birdie makes friendships and enemies within the confines of the women’s holding on the ship as the women struggle to survive with limited rations, poor medical treatment and brutal sailors.

Birdie finds Joe nearly dead in the men’s hold and manages to have him nursed back to health although he sends her away when he hears she had s*x with a sailor. (Of all the hypocrisy since he was literally married). Later he discovers she had in fact been brutally as**ulted and decides he can stand her after all. Birdie makes friends with a catholic priest who ends up betraying her as they land in Australia.

She then ends up in a workhouse for a bit before the women get auctioned off to the highest bidder as wives. Birdie has Joe and the priest there to buy her (priest is buying on Joe’s behalf). They lose to someone else and then the priest gets shot and dies and Birdie marries Joe.

Culminates in her giving birth a year later to a girl and naming it after her mum.

****

Overall, this book wasn’t bad. I think it had a lot of interesting bits and pieces regarding the work Birdie did in the house she was employed and the voyage to Australia. I think there was potential to delve more into the relationships in the household and give some depth to the other characters. Birdie lacked a curiosity about other people other than herself. She envied the daughter and stole her clothes but doesn’t appear to have any interest in the booklets about women’s rights she found amongst her things. There was great potential there for Birdie to join some dots and realise that wealthy or no, the daughter was also in a prison made by society just as her own mother was.

The most disappointing part of the book was the ending as I have no idea why we were supposed to care about Joe who betrayed Birdie at every available opportunity. I’m not sure if we were supposed to think it was romantic that he didn’t kill her and instead was about to let her go, but honestly, if that’s the case then the bar is on the floor. When he showed up at her auction I was like noooo, tell him to kick rocks. They did mention she had to marry to be allowed to leave as a free woman, but I would rather they weaved in some vaguely deserving love interest or even a kindly stranger than have Birdie with the man that literally led her to her demise.

Additionally, crazy to me that her entire life Birdie wanted to know the name of her grandparents and at the last minute when Cook is finally saying she was the one who saved Birdie and her mum, Birdie doesn’t think to ask the name of her grandparents? Like this is your last chance?

[Annette Chidzey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift for my birthday and is a debut novel for the author, Barbara Sumner. It explores the life of Hannah Bird, a convicted woman transported from London to Sydney and underscores the very harsh life such women endured for often wanting to simply care for themselves and their families.
I think this probably warrants a 3.5 rating but still that option eludes us in Goodreads- much to my ongoing frustration.
An interesting read, though the ending had some Hollywood like moments- though I am pleased to say Hannah retains her determined and non-negotiable female independence to the very last page.

[Sue Thorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gallows Bird takes us back to dark times where being a lower classed citizen meant you were born to serve.
Living with her adored, but now unwell, Mother in harsh conditions, Hannah Bird (Birdie) is bundled off on her 13th Birthday, to a new life as an under-laundry maid in Angus Hall. She refuses to accept that this life of servitude is all her future holds. Upon falling for the charming Joe, and his dreams of a better future, Birdie becomes drawn into a risky theft which sees her being caught, convicted and transported to Australia. The transportation is a harrowing ordeal where the women are raped and abused. Once landed in Sydney their convict status will determine their life ahead.

Whilst this story tells of the poor treatment of lower class citizens during this time and the appalling abuse of convicts, it also speaks of women’s strength, endurance and resilience. The author has drawn on true stories.

I really enjoyed this book. The reason I deducted a star is that I felt the pace was a little inconsistent. The first half of the book ambled along, whereas the final chapters seemed a little rushed and not as credible.

[Melissa Trevelion · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gallows Bird by Barbara Sumner is a fast-paced, thoroughly engaging story of one woman’s journey for freedom.

London 1833, Hannah ‘Birdie’ Bird was the daughter of an aristocratic mother, being a cast-out she spends her days as a laundry housekeeper for a wealthy family but often wonder if who she serves is her true family. Longing for a better life she commits a crime, her actions see her on a ship to Sydney Cove with other female convicts.

The narrative is engaging, well-crafted, and captivating. It is a story filled with realistic characters and vivid descriptions of various scenes that intrigue the reader from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspect of the novel involving the journey to the early Australian settlement. I found it so easy to visualise and applaud Sumner for the way she brings the 1830s not only in London but also Australia to life. Birdie is an incredibly likable character with a depth and the supporting cast are brilliant, you can easily get involved with each in an emotional sense.

The subject is not one you see written about too often, but this topic has been managed well, creating a story that all fans of the genre can absolutely read.

[Jan Mawdesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Sumner, in her first fiction novel The Gallows Bird, celebrates the lives of so many women placed in service at a young age, some to accept their lot in life, others like Hannah Bird, with a yearning for a better future; with ideas above their station in life.
Hannah Bird could read and write, as well as speak French, as her beloved mother had taught her from a young age; skills which in so many ways saw her yearn for a better life other than that of the under laundry maid in a household she became to believe was that of her outcast, high born mother’s family.
Her passion for silk, and her risk taking, saw her become involved in a daring robbery, one in which a man died. Arrested, she faced the gallows but luck was on her side the day she was sentenced to transportation to Australia.
It is 1833 and Hannah known as ‘Birdie’ is being transported to the ship along with a number of other women she had become familiar with during her time in prison. They leave in harrowing circumstances, but at the last minute a group of men is boarded, filthy, bedraggled and beaten. Amongst the men is Joe, the man who had enticed her into the robbery, the man she felt a love for, a man also spared the gallows.
As the voyage to Australia unfolds, Barbara Sumner has captured the horror, acceptance, devastation and degradation of the women as they learn to trust each other, make the most of the little they have and survive the unthinkable. Hannah forms a friendship with a French Priest Philippe, also travelling to Australia but as a free man, keeper of souls on the ship, doubter of his faith and that of God.
Strong and courageous they survive, only to face the unknown in a strange land that once again sees them face up to the ‘Mermaid’s Auction’; the brutal reality that they are simply women for sale to the highest bidder.
Is there any joy or happiness to be had in this strange new life, is something they all doubt, but believe there has to be better times ahead! When Birdie is asked her age for her marriage certificate she stops and thinks, finally remembering she is sixteen.
Seldom used as a storyline, the documented lives of the women sentenced to life in Australia for, in many cases, what would be considered as petty crimes, is a treasure trove of historic fact that converts into fascinating storytelling. For anyone who enjoys Historic Fiction based on historic fact, The Gallows Bird is a must read.

[Rina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah ‘Birdie’ Bird worked as a laundry maid in a manor house in London 1830, serving a wealthy family she suspected to be hers. Dreaming of a life bigger than the one she had, she took risks to change her circumstances, which found her caught up in a wave of female prisoners sent to Parramatta Female Factory, where women were auctioned off as potential brides.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I started this book. Then… bam!.. I read the Prologue and it was hard-hitting immediately, with the arrival of the women prisoners in New South Wales in 1833. With an opening like that, I was fully hooked.

A quick warning, this wasn’t a rainbow-and-sunshine kind of read. Wow, what a grim life Birdie had! From the moment she was born, she experienced continuous loss and hardship. My heart clenched the entire time I read this book, because I couldn’t believe how life could be so desperate in that day and age for the poor.

Birdie’s days as an under-laundry maid in Angus Hall truly sounded like a Cinderella story (the hard-working Cinderella, not the transformed-as-a-princess Cinderella). I was amazed at the amount of details Sumner outlined in the process of washing, including boiling the hot water manually, shaving the soap, using different concoctions to remove stains - I was in awe.

The highlight of the story for me was the ship journey from London to Australia. The way the women were treated was mortifying, but I loved their resilience and the way they banded together.

This was a powerful story about being broken and being put together again, piece by piece. This book made me feel and think and wonder. What an amazing debut from the author, can’t wait to see what is next!

(Thanks to DMCPR Media and Pantera Press for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review)

See my bookstagram review.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this wonderful historical fiction novel in two days, carried along by the vivid descriptions and engaging characters. It is a sweeping plot driven story, taking place over four years from 1830-1834 in London, and Sydney cove, and on board the convict ship that connects the two. It is superbly researched and plotted, and beautifully written. The subject matter is gut wrenching and discomfiting - the abuse of women on the Countess Eliza and at the Female Factory is graphic and tragic.

There is also a LOT going on, all of the time. Sometimes it’s a little hard to keep up as the action races along at pace. There are also many characters with a lot of back story. Hannah, the central character, is albino with a gift for smelling colours, which is wonderfully described.

Many of the historical and naval terms are unexplained or defined (although there is a helpful
Glossary to be discovered at the end of the book), and some of the inferred subplots are a bit obtuse. This makes the reader work a little harder to figure out what is going on. This didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book overall.

What DID detract and distract were the many mistakes of grammar that had not been picked up by the proof reader. So many times a correctly spelled word but the wrong word was in a sentence. In the Epilogue both present and past tense were used in the same sentence or paragraph which was frustrating and spoiled what should have been a triumphant ending. It got to the point where I was actually saying “arghh” out loud whenever I found another error.

I feel the publisher and proofreader let the author down here. The book is superb and deserved better. Overall, I highly recommend it. It is a thought provoking, tragic, and important book.

[Karen Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received The Gallow’s Bird from @betterreading an advanced copy. Thank you #betterreading

The Gallows Bird starts in London in 1833, Hannah ‘Birdie’ Bird lives with her mother, Helena. She has taught Birdie how to stitch and repair beautiful fabrics and gowns for the upper class.

Her mother becomes ill so before she passes away, Helena arranges for Birdie to go to one of the big houses as a laundry maid. Birdie works long hours on her own in the laundry where she washes and mends the family’s and staff’s garments.

When she begins to believe there is a connection between her mother and the family she works for, Birdie starts to take risks that will set her on a path of trouble.

Leaving the house on her half day off Birdie is curious about the people she meets and her love for beautiful fabrics and garments. She finds herself infatuated by an older man and is led into being an accomplice in a silk heist.

Birdie is sentenced to life in the penal colony of Sydney Cove.

On board the ship to Australia, naïve Birdie befriends the more worldly female prisoners who protect her as much as possible. She endures physical abuse, hunger and fear for her future.

This story tells of the horrific conditions the prisoners, women and men had to endure during months at sea. The strength and solidarity the women developed was how they survived. This is a debut novel of Barbara Sumner I look forward to her next book.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

My stop on The Gallows Bird book tour.
Straight up- I loved this book!
The Gallows Bird follows the journey of young Hannah Bird, a laundry maid whose mother was banished from the aristocracy. A refusal to accept her lot in life, a hope of something more and a tenacious spirit sees her land a one way ticket to the Antipodes. To relocate to the new settlement in Australia for the term of her natural life.
I loved reading a novel from the POV of a female convict.
And this is a very well told, thoroughly researched, perfectly paced tale.
Atmospheric
Fascinating.
Visceral.
It’s a sensory feast.
There’s no barrage of FACTS which I feel sometimes from historical fiction; like an author wants to demonstrate their knowledge like a 4year old does with dinosaurs. This was so perfectly interspersed- the language, the clothing, the food, transport, processes-it was transportive.
Be prepared for lots of vomitting and plentiful uses for urine.
I rarely say I want a bigger word count but I was so immersed I could have kept reading. Even could have been a trilogy of books.
Perhaps a good one for fans of #brycecourteneys The Potato Factory’
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks @panterapress @dmcprmedia and @barbarasumner for including me in  #thegallowsbird tour. 

[Amelia O'Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Better Reading for an advance copy of The Gallows Bird in exchange for an honest review.

The Gallows Bird tells the tale of Hannah Bird, an impoverished child sent to work in a well-to-do household as the laundry maid when her mother can no longer look after her. But she is tempted by ideas above her station, gets herself in serious trouble and as punishment is sentenced to transportation.

Birdie is the vessel for many of the stories of the forgotten and abused female convicts of the colonial era. A lot happens to Birdie and the collection of women she finds in her life both as a servant and as a convict. She is a naive and at times frustrating narrator observing many horrors and not always realising the danger she is in but really she is a vessel to describe the experiences of women of her time.

The Gallows Bird is full of terrible events and terrible men (and definitely also some terrible men) but there are plenty of lovely moments of strength and hope as well. A great read for the historical fiction fans interested in London and the colonies of this era with a side of speaking up for women.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birdie, frustrated by her situation in life as a laundry maid, takes risks to change her circumstances - these go awry, and she ends up on a ship bound for Australia. I generally enjoyed this historical novel, which does a good job at bringing to life the plight of women aboard convict ships, and has some lovely passages of writing. However, I did find the overall plot a bit disjointed and found the reappearance of the bloke who lures Birdie away with talk of a better life a bit annoying (plus, I'm just wondering now what age she is during the main part of this book - she's only 13 when she joins the household as a laundry maid, and it really doesn't seem like that much time passes before she is rebelling and deciding to assist Joe with a heist - is she only 14 when that happens? That makes some of her reckless decision-making understandable, but makes me not feel very happy about the relationship part of the plot. Not that there's much of it, to be fair.)

Review copy provided by Better Reading

[Hirell Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently received an ARC copy of the Gallows bird by Barbara Sumner thanks to #BRReadingPreview @BetterReadingau. This book is great for lovers of historical fiction especially for lovers of penal system/transportation to Australia kinds of books. It gives great insight into the poor treatment of women and the lower class citizens and what a harrowing life the women had once arriving in Sydney and being put to work in the women's factory for something as simple as stealing a potato to feed a starving family. The protagonist Hannah Bird is so brave despite her youth and diminutive size. She possesses a strength she didn't even realise which draws others to her and inspires people to be brave. It is a harrowing but inspirational tale about following your dreams and having faith in your capabilities. A great story for any generation whom wishes to understand our ancestry.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the Better Reading team for my preview copy.
Hannah Bird (Birdie), also known as Birdie, was a courageous young woman who worked as the laundry maid at Angus Hall in London when she was just 13 years old. She met a charming Joe on her day out and was involved in a silk heist that sentenced her to the Antipodes for the term of her natural life. The journey to the early Australian settlement was a game-changer. She makes friends on the ship with fellow prisoners while trying hard to stand up for her rights. Can they fight their way to freedom or fall into slavery in the new land?
While there is a bit of a supernatural effect, I still enjoyed reading the book because I felt like reading the historical story of the convict in Sydney, the land of opportunity. In the end, Birdie realizes that to be able to choose is the greatest freedom of all.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold and brave Hannah Bird (Birdie) makes some reckless decisions in her quest for a bigger life than that of a laundry maid. She naively ends up with the wrong crowd and a big life pickle.

As the story goes she makes takes bigger and bigger risks and you read on the sidelines wondering for her fate. she seems to be able to test the boundaries for quite a while.

Once she is made convict life becomes even more difficult as she is sent on arduous sea voyage that seems to test her even more.

I did so enjoy the sensory exploration of the book and the bringing to life of that of a laundry maid through the senses.

The growth in Birdies character through her life experiences was told well. I was happy to enjoy the ride.

Even though the story was of a dark grim period - the mixing of the characters and the storyline was interesting.

Thank you to author Barbara Sumner for this story.

Would be interesting to follow some of the characters further. Would love some historical context also - as it’s such an interesting period

[Jessica Coulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise had a lot of potential, but fell flat to me. The story often felt disjointed, and references were made throughout that made no sense in the current circumstances. The contents of the prologue took away potential tension throughout the novel, which was disappointing. The main character was hard to like, but was somehow constantly surrounded by people who loved and supported her, many on first sight. The ending was also a let down as it tied everything in quite a neat bow in a way that didn’t come across as realistic.
I believe the author has potential and given this was their debut novel, would be interested in some of their future work.
I was given an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

[Sandra Merlo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to the Better Reading team for my preview copy. This book had so much potential and it was quite disturbing to read about what took place during the journey between the UK and Australia as well as what happened to these poor women once they arrived at their destination. The problem for me was that there were too many pages of describing Birdie's work and reflecting back to how she grew up. I realise this is a novel but Birdie's experience was quite "easy" compared to the other convicts and not quite realistic. It was such an interesting topic and I wish I could give it more stars but to me, there were quite a lot of unimportant pages.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gallows Bird is a work of art, inspired by the historical true stories of female convicts who were banished from London and transported across the seas to the early Australian settlement.
Sumner has written from a characters view that Australian history has rarely celebrated or acknowledged. While some has been written about the wives of the men who worked for his majesty the King and travelled to Australia willingly, or those upper class ladies who paid for passage looking for a new life with their husbands, the female convicts view is one that is rarely heard of. Sumner has written a brutal yet unwavering tale of survival which leaves nothing to the imagination of what these women would have been subjected to.
Deep down, Sumner has made the underlying theme of love and survival. The foolish mistakes we will make for love, but the strength and determination that love gives to ensure survival. Birdie’s motivation to keep going and not succumbing to the trials that plaque her are all based on love. Love for her mother, romantic live and the love of friendship. This is an overarching theme through out the novel, not just for Birdie but the majority of the characters who survive.
While this is not a traditional senior school text, I feel this could be easily integrated into the English Curriculum and would allow another side of Australia’s ancestry to be studied. There are a multitude of themes and elements that could be pulled from this text to create some exciting and thought provoking discussions.
I would class Sumner’s writing in the same vein as Kate Grenville and Bryce Courtenay, and I cannot wait to see what she produces next.
All in all, The Gallows Bird is a celebration of the lengths women will go to in the hopes of paving their own path, even though history and societal norms are against them.
A big thank you to Better Reading and Pantera Press for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review

[Erin Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed but at times it was tedious to read and at other times there was too much going on. I would have liked to see more of Birdie’s relationship with Mary and I can’t comprehend the commencement of her ‘friendship’ with the love interest. Many things commenced, yet felt incomplete and too much detail on her work as Under-Landry maid.
Enjoyable, regardless. Thanks to Better Reading for the unproofed copy.

[Gaye Bagust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I think I have read a library worth of books during my life so im a good judge....This is the authors debut novel and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. She drew me into the magic of the character and enthralled me with her intense imagination....what a great novel. I would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction or just anyone who loves a great story. Please can the author write more of the same.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite excited to start this book about a convict girl making good, according to the back cover blurb, and the prologue of starting life in the penal colony was quite promising.

Unfortunately, we then went back to when the girl first took on an appointment as an under laundry maid and we learn more than is even interesting about washing clothes and removing stains in the 19th century. She exhibits a form of synesthesia where colours and appearances give certain smells. It was neither fitting with the time setting, easy to describe nor even interesting. Maybe once or twice would have been, but not so consistently every chapter.

Despite her yearning for a better social standing, she involves herself with a not so clever rogue who she abets in crime with consequent transportation. Then we have an indeterminable ship voyage with dirt, filth, hunger, sickness and rape. When she is finally and improbably, according to convict history, released from prison and marries her convict rogue, she sets up a business in Sydney town and - spoiler alert - decides she doesn’t love him and doesn’t need him after all.

I couldn’t believe I persisted with such a depressing and long winded account for such an unsatisfactory finish.

[IE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing history of servant laundry roles and banished convict women. Had to work to understand this one a bit, it felt like I was watching a film rather than reading a book, plus there are a lot of typos, especially in the last quarter of the book. Unfortunately the ending wasn’t particularly realistic, although at least it was positive, so all in all still an interesting read.

[Kirsty Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the historical premise of this story, but something was missing a little for me. At times I felt maybe it was a bit disjointed, I found myself going back to figure out how we got from A to B. It dragged a little in the first half and I would have preferred to read more about Birdies time in Australia. Overall it is worth the read if you enjoy historical fiction.

[Sharon Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent colonial tale, horrifying how the women were misled and decided.
Will do some reading to fact check, but the auctioning of the new arrivals, who had been told they would be the new wives of the colonials, having a say in who they wed is nothing less than slavery.
I felt the ending a bit 'quick', all neatly tied up, potential for a future novel?