Morgan's Run

"[t]he Australian author of the bestselling THORN BIRDS hews to a formula: Schlocky love story superimposed on compelling historic episode equals, with any luck, blockbuster. Thus MORGAN'S RUN, McCullough's latest docu-novel, tells the dramatic story of Australia's bumpy start as a penal colony in 1788 from the point of view of an improbably handsome, virtuous, well-muscled, well-educated convict named Richard Morgan. Don't expect literature....McCullough really shines at scene-setting, as opposed to history....She may not be able to produce a credible hero to save her life, or settle an academic debate about the philosophical underpinnings of transportation, but she can conjure up a tavern or courtroom scene or the below-decks hell of a convict ship in all their grainy, teeming, Hogarthian detail.Colleen McCullough is the author of 'Morgan's Run', published 2001 under ISBN 9780743506519 and ISBN 0743506510.