The author's passion for Australian colonial history is evident in this unusual book, a blend of research and imaginative embellishment. 'I have, like Mary Ann, flouted certain conventions,' Lindsey tells us in her afterword. Drawing on the rich source material provided by court transcripts and reportage on what was in its time an infamous case, The Convict's Daughter uses a fiction writer's techniques to join the dots.

Gill's story is incredible in its myriad coincidences and catastrophes – the failed elopement and courtroom drama are succeeded by journeys across the Pacific, shipwrecks, and encounters with pirates – that it might well be dismissed as implausible were it not for the fact that it is entirely true. In recovering this fascinating tale from her own family's history, Lindsey reminds us that 'colonial Australia was much more diverse and dimensioned' than our well-worn national myths might lead us to believe.