Morgan's Run

Starred review from July 31, 2000
HMcCullough's narrative skills are fully displayed in this intricately researched, passionate epic of 18th-century England's colonization of Australia, in which an upright Bristol tavernkeeper, Richard Morgan, becomes one of the first British convicts to be sent to the rugged new prison colony of Botany Bay. It is not enough that Morgan is struggling with grief, having lost his wife and two children in three separate tragedies. He discovers that his employer is scamming the government of excise taxes, but when he reports the fraud, he becomes the target of the distiller's revenge. Framed for robbery and extortion, he is arrested and thrown into prisonDa hellish pit of overcrowding, disease and filthDthen convicted and sentenced to seven years transportation on the infamous slaver ships bound for Australia; the success of the American Revolution has closed the New World to England's unwanted population. During the horrific sea journey, Morgan becomes a leader among the men, protecting handsome Fourth Mate Stephen Donovan (called a Miss Molly by the crew), and forging a friendship that will last a lifetime. Once in Port Jackson (later Sydney), Morgan becomes indispensable as a skilled worker and master gunsmith. He is soon moved to spectacular Norfolk Island, where there is fertile soil, food aplenty and happiness in love. Summoning the intimate acquaintance with her native Australian landscape familiar to readers of The Thorn Birds, and the mastery of meticulous detail that distinguishes her series on Roman history (Caesar, etc.), McCullough blends local color, extraordinary characters, ethnic tensions (between Irish, Scots, Welsh and Englishmen), grand descriptive passages and even seamen's thick dialects into a complex, consistently entertaining narrative. The strength and resilience of her unforgettable hero makes this animated tale one of McCullough's best to date.

August 9, 2000
In her bloated and, sad to say, boring new book, McCullough (Caesar: Let the Dice Fly) turns her usually fine historical eye to the Pacific Ocean and the founding of Australia in the late 18th century. Richard Morgan, son of a Bristol tavern keeper, is found guilty of a crime he did not commit and becomes one of the first convicts sent to New South Wales. Having suffered a number of personal tragedies, notably the disappearance and presumed death of his beloved son, he is stoical in the face of the long sea voyage and the uncertain fate awaiting him. Rising superbly (and improbably) to every hardship and horror, Richard gains the respect of his fellow convicts and British captors. He serves out his seven-year sentence, becomes a free man, falls in love, marries, and becomes a father again. The major weakness of the novel is Richard, who never seems real; his transformation from wimpy son to a leader of men is unconvincing. Despite the inherently interesting plot, the reader is inundated by so many names, events, and details that the mind whirls and interest in finishing the book flags. Demand will likely be high for McCullough, however, so purchase accordingly. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/00.]Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2000
McCullough's detail-rich accounting of her mild-mannered and meticulous protagonist, Richard Morgan, takes him from the top of eighteenth-century England's middle-class to one of society's lowest echelons, the first Australian penal colony. As a gunsmith living in his family's inn, he has been able to accrue some savings and send his son, the light of his life, to school. After losing his fortune in a bad investment, however, he is framed to keep him from testifying against some prominent citizens. Things go from bad to worse with the death of his wife and the disappearance of his beloved son, and Morgan willingly accepts his incarceration in one of his era's vilest prisons. His obsession with surviving both prison and the 12-month journey on the convict ship to Australia wins him a coterie of companions, who follow his fastidious example to stay healthy and strong. Morgan then marries a woman he met in prison so she can guard his belongings, and in return, he offers her his protection. But McCullough sends her hero away once again, this time to Norfolk Island (Australian McCullough's home), where he thrives, ultimately receives a pardon for his hard work, and falls in love with a girl young enough to be his daughter. McCullough's characters are compelling, but they are nearly smothered by the overabundance of detail she provides about everyday life in England around the time of the American Revolution and about the horrific British judicial and penal systems of the era, but this wealth of historical description does allow the reader to vividly imagine the lives of early convict transportees and to marvel at the fact that, given the brutality and squalor they endured, any of them survived. ((Reviewed July 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)