'By 1848 famine has ravaged Ireland, and London remains undecided about what to do. A shortage of female labour in Australia offers a kind of solution and so, over the following two years, more than 4000 Irish girls are shipped across vast oceans to an unimaginable world in the new colony. On Sunday 28 October 1849, one of these ships, the Thomas Arbuthnot, sets sail from Plymouth with a cargo of girls under the care of Surgeon-superintendent Charles Strutt.
'Not the Same Sky tells the story of Honora, Julia, Bridget and Anne. It observes them on the voyage, examining their relationship of trust with Charles Strutt, and follows them from Sydney as they become women of Australia, negotiating their new lives as best they can. A stark, poetic intensity gives these young women historical importance and human presence in an elegant and subtle novel suffused with humour.' (Publisher's blurb)
'Evelyn Conlon's book Not the Same Sky tells the story of more than 200 Irish girls who were shipped from England to Australia during the time of the potato famine. Conlon's narrative engages delicately with the lives of several of the girls, taking the perspective of Charles Strutt, the Surgeon-superintendent responsible for their welfare during the voyage. This delicacy is essential, lest the reader be overcome by the unremitting tragedy experienced by these orphan girls. But Charles instead brings order and an uplifting spirit to their lives, and the sea voyage is negotiated with a skill that provides readers with glimpses into a world that, while it may be removed from our time by one and a half centuries, casts relevant light onto some aspects of the colony's Anglo-Celtic origins.' (Introduction)
'Evelyn Conlon's book Not the Same Sky tells the story of more than 200 Irish girls who were shipped from England to Australia during the time of the potato famine. Conlon's narrative engages delicately with the lives of several of the girls, taking the perspective of Charles Strutt, the Surgeon-superintendent responsible for their welfare during the voyage. This delicacy is essential, lest the reader be overcome by the unremitting tragedy experienced by these orphan girls. But Charles instead brings order and an uplifting spirit to their lives, and the sea voyage is negotiated with a skill that provides readers with glimpses into a world that, while it may be removed from our time by one and a half centuries, casts relevant light onto some aspects of the colony's Anglo-Celtic origins.' (Introduction)
