The Time of Gold and Shackles (Australian Adventures)

Maybe it would have been simply a love story between two young people—one of many. But in Alice’s house, a crime has been committed, and Henry is accused of it. Despite the lack of evidence, he is sent to a penal colony in Australia, where at the same time her large-scale colonization is underway and the “gold rush” is igniting. Alice never believed in her lover’s guilt. But what can a fragile, gentle girl do when she’s in England and he’s in faraway Australia? Still, she’s ready to follow the one she loves to the ends of the earth. What could 19th-century Australia offer? Hard labor for convicts, unexpected events that give hope for the future, the harsh days of gold seekers, settlers’ farmers’ belief in a better fate, and resistance from the indigenous people being pushed off their ancestral lands. On this small continent, thousands of people gathered with different goals and completely different ways of achieving them. Australia is a country of hopes. Will it live up to this slogan? Is there room for love in this dangerous world?