Dangerous Women by Hope Adams is a book about second chances. The novel is actually based on a true story about a group of convicted women being forced to board a ship called the Rajah to be relocated across the world from London to Australia as their "punishment". Relocation to some of these women seems to be the worst punishment imaginable but to others its a new beginning, a second chance to start out on a different foot.

The women aboard the ship are a rough bunch. Most if not all of them have had a tough life. They grew up lower class with abusive families and knew no better than to steal in order to scrape out a living for themselves. Their actions were wrong but the reader can sympathize with their reasonings in some instances of their crimes. Their matron, Kezia, has tasked herself with trying to smooth out some of the rough edges the ladies have. She has over one hundred days to get herself familiar with them and try to learn their stories during their voyage from London to Australia. When Kezia first addresses the women on board as a whole she says, "The time at sea is a chance for you to improve your lives and you should see it in that light".

At the beginning of the voyage Kezia selects a group of eighteen women to help her make a patchwork quilt that she hopes will bring them all closer, as well as, teach the women a trade. It's rough going at first. Most of these women are loners and are not used to having attention drawn to themselves. They all quarrel with each other in the beginning but soon turn all their focus into making a beautiful quilt. Personally I am not sure that Kezia had it in her mind in the beginning that with each stitch the women would be stitching together everlasting friendships but in the end that is exactly what happened.

Their journey was definitely not without its struggles. Some pretty tragic incidences happened along the way that brought the women closer together and brought out secrets that one woman never wanted to be reveled, all of this sounds vague but really enhances the mystery and suspense of the story to keep the reader enthralled.

I greatly enjoyed Dangerous Women. I felt it was excellent story telling and a glimpse into what life would have been like for a convicted woman in nineteenth century London. In the end knowing that the story was based on a true story and that the ship and women actually existed was spellbinding. This book has definitely peaked my interest into finding out more about the Rajah and the beautiful quilt these women made that still exist and can still be seen. It was also a heart warming story to modern day women that our past doesn't necessarily have to define our futures.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for and advanced copy for an honest review.

I have always been interested in the beginnings of English settlement of Australia, particularly its growth as a penal colony. This historical fiction account of one ship's journey to "van Diemen's Land", as it was referred to in the 1840's, struck my fancy for several reasons. First, it was a ship filled with women prisoners. Second, the prisoners worked together to create a quilt during the journey. I was surprised and pleased to find that the story was true, and the quilt actually exists--it can be seen in person in the National Gallery of Australia. I appreciate that the story is about, and focuses mainly on, women. Highly recommended!

Hope Adam’s has written a very well executed factionalized account of an actual journey of the ship Rajah from England to Tasmania. I found #dangerouswomen to be quite interesting, well-written and entertaining. As an added bonus it is also about the making of The Rajah Quilt which is in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and was the inspiration for the story. The ship is taking about 200 women convicted of a variety of crimes from various prisons and transporting them to Tasmania to start life anew. The quilt is something a few of them work on during the 3 1/2 month voyage. I think this is very well researched and well written and I also found it to be a page turner. I thank #netgalley, the publisher, and author for this ARC to read and review.

Who stabbed Hattie and why? Loosely based on the true story of the transportation of female convicts from the UK to Australia in 1841, it's more of a mystery than I expected. Kezia, who chose the women to be transported and serves as the matron, engages them in the creation of a quilt. She wants to think the best of the women but doesn't realize how many secrets are floating along with the ship. Clara, for example managed to get on the ship by drugging a woman who was meant to be on it and has taken her name. It's told from her perspective as well as from Hattie's and Kezia's. This is light on the conditions on the ship and on the situations the women came from. That said, Adams gives a good sense of their desperation. The mystery is teased out slowly as the storytelling shifts back and forth in time. You, like me, might think you know who did it (and why) but I was wrong and you might be as well. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A page turner for fans of historical mysteries.

I enjoyed Christina Baker Kline’s The Exiles about women who were convicted of petty crime and sent to Australia. Dangerous Women is set in the same time and place and is Hope Adams debut novel. 180 women set forth on the Rajah to Tasmania. The ship’s matron, Kezia Hayter, choses a group of women to work on a presentation quilt. When a woman is tabbed to death, they realize that a dangerous woman who has taken on a different identity is aboard. While the story is sensitive to feminists, it is clear men are in charge. Reflecting the times, Kezia finds her investigation hampered by men who doubt her ability to investigate. Readers of historical fiction will find this a satisfying novel, with a different approach to the female convicted of petty crime sent to Australia than Baker’s book.

Hope Adams' career as a novelist is off to a fine start. In this historical novel about the transport of about 200 women convicted of relatively minor crimes from England to Tasmania aboard the barque Rajah in 1841, Adams brings us an interesting tale, based on fact, of the 100+ day voyage, during which a small group of these women are engaged in sewing a patchwork quilt when one of the group is attacked and murdered. She weaves a spell-binding story that is peopled by characters we come to know well. Although Adams paints a picture of the ship on which they sail, it never comes to life quite as vividly as the other elements of the novel. Brief mentions of what probably was barely edible food and the inevitable smells and illnesses suffered by the women who are housed below deck on hard mattresses and without natural light do not do justice to the hardships they had to endure, even taking into account that they had spent time in prisons not known for their comfort. Despite this weakness, Dangerous Women is a good, fast read that taught me more about Australia's history than I had known.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Hope Adams, and Berkley Publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Dangerous Women of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Hope Adams writes a tight tale with compassion and heart. She is an author I will follow.

This voyage of the Rajah, carrying 180+ women prisoners from London to Van Diemen's Land, also known as Hobart's Island (also known as Tasmania) in the Australian Islands, lasted but 105 days, from April 5, 1841, to July 19, 1841. Hope Adams give us those days, packed with details that color our world for the duration. The intersection of the worlds of the prisoners, their support matron, the ship's doctor, and minister, and the crew of the Rajah, the various ladies' attempts to move from life as a prisoner to a place of hope and growth are impressively presented. And the mystery is not obvious, even unto the end. This story is told in a back-and-forth pattern easily followed - chapters are labeled 'Then' and 'Now' for our convenience, Then being before the murder, Now being after. Each chapter is also from the perspective of one of the prisoners or their matron, Kezia Bertie, again named in the chapter heading and clearly outlining the personality and growing independence of these ladies. I am not always a fan of this type of delivery, but it works well in this tale.

Fiction based on historical fact is one of my favorite genres and extensive facts and sources are shared with us at the books ending. Hope Adams also shares with us the websites that feature the Rajah Quilt, the project designed by Kezia to bring these women together with one focus and perhaps a craft they can pursue once in Hobart. And there is such a quilt, displayed now at the National Gallery of Australia. Wikipedia has an excellent photo and details of this crossing as well.

It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. I can't wait for Hope Adams's next work!

The Rajah Quilt. It's mere existence is an enduring witness to the sisterhood that was established on this voyage from England to Van Diemen's Island in 1841. Nearly 200 female convicts are being sent to what is now Tasmania. These were women who had all been convicted of petty theft and other crimes not deemed worthy of capital punishment. A young woman named Kezia Hayter volunteers to be a matron on the ship for free passage. The Rajah Quilt was her vision and it was accomplished. An amazing feat. I cannot imagine doing my cross stitch projects on the deck of a ship on the high seas. In addition to highlighting the quilt, Hope Adams also gives us a mystery to solve. Many of the women have secrets. Is one of them willing to kill to keep hers? For a debut combining the genres of historical fiction and mystery, I thought this was exceedingly well done. The fabric descriptions before the chapters were intriguing. I do wish we could have seen a graphic as well. In the end, this book shows the amazing things women can accomplish together. It is also a story of redemption in more ways than one. If you love this, don't miss 'The Exiles' by Christina Baker Kline which features a similar voyage on the Medea. For those who love mysteries at sea, be sure to check out 'The Devil and the Dark Water' by Stuart Turton.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Big Thank You to @berkleypub and @netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

After reading (and loving) ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by @stuturton
I was excited to come across another thriller/mystery taking place on a sea voyage.
Then I saw said voyage is to take a bunch of women convicts to Australia to serve out their sentences?! I was 100% sold.
Y’all know I love dark female characters so I could not request this one fast enough.

And Thankfully I was not let down!

We get told the story through multiple points of view so we get to know several women that were all very interesting characters.
Their stories and secrets unfolded and I was hooked.

I don’t think I can use the word empowering often for a thriller but I definitely felt that with this story.

Give me any story with Women supporting Women!

When I finished I found out that this story is loosely based on a real voyage that happened. Which made it even more cool to me!
Definitely check this one out. Releasing Feb 16th!

I ended up not finishing this book after getting to the 50% mark. It is incredibly slow and long and I just didn’t care to see how it ended. Very disappointing because the premise sounded AMAZING. Right up my alley. However the execution and the characters fell flat.

Historical fiction story that takes place in the mid 1800's about a group of women transported from prison in England to start a new life in Australia. During the journey, one of the women is murdered and they try to discover whodunit. While the murder is completely fictional, the novel is loosely based on the voyage where a subgroup of the prisoners worked together to create the Rajah Quilt, which hangs today in the National Gallery of Australia. Engrossing read that moves keeps you turning pages to find out whodunit.

While most people know the basics of how Australia was first a country where prisoners and unwanted from England where sent...I have never seen this unique perspective with regards to women prisoners. The hardships and interesting interactions keep you turning the pages.

The Rajah sailed to Nan Diemen’s Land (Tasmania, Australia) in 1841 transporting English women convicts sentenced to “transport” as their punishment. They women were given work bags with sewing materials and a matron to teach them sewing. They make a quilt and the matron falls in love with the captain. All of that really happened. Adams skillfully weaves her novel around this event, using the real people as her characters, with the exception of the convicts...no protect the descendants. The novel doesn’t connect the patchwork to the storyline enough and there is no description of the actual quilting.

The quilt is in the National Gallery, Australia.
https://nga.gov.au/rajahquilt/

I have become a huge fan of historical fiction over the years, and even though this book was created from true stories of the women involved, there is still some fiction elements. This book was eye opening and heart breaking and one I strongly recommend.

The setting to this story was intriguing and something I knew nothing about. It was eye opening to learn how these women lived, and were treated at a time not too far from our own. The story was well written, and kept me interested. However, I did have difficulty keeping track of the characters in the beginning. There are so many and the chapters switch from several points of view. A surprising ending, definitely worth the read!

I really enjoyed this well researched historical fiction based on a true story, about a shipload of convicted women in 1841 who were transported from England to Tasmania to begin new lives. During the course of the voyage, the women sewed a coverlet,The Rajah Quilt, which actually is in The National Gallery in Australia. Also, during the voyage, a stabbing takes place
(fiction) and much of the novel is figuring who did it.

Started out very intriguing but lost some momentum as the story went on. I loved the strong women characters.

Based on a true story, Adams uses the stories of women bound for the Southern Hemisphere, to sew a good piece of historical fiction. The women were part of a humanitarian effort to give convicted female prisoners a fresh start, albeit outside of England. Almost the entire story takes place on board the Rajah. The ladies all contribute to a sewing project to teach them skills and also keep them occupied. The book kept my interest. There is death, secrecy, love, and hope during the voyage, I appreciated the historical note after as the Rajah quilt is a real item, important in historical detail about the lives of the women who put every stitch in it.

I had never heard of this 1841 voyage but learned so much from reading this book. This is a great debut novel from Hope Adams and is so well researched. She tells the stories of these women and blends them into a mystery. The plot is rich with historical detail and extremely interesting.
Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was part of Australian herstory I was not aware of. I expect most outside of Australia and Tasmania are not. It is fiction, but captures well the feeling and pathos of the story of these women. The characters are well constructed and used well to tell the story. I feel like I got to know these women and the men on the ship. Even though the actual characters, other than the Matron, Captain, Surgeon and Pastor are all fictional, I fell I got the core or the story and a very good view of what the voyage was like.

I would strongly recommend this book and also going to the internet and viewing photos of the actual quilt that the women made. Seeing it made the story that much more real and human.