One night in 1793 Kate O'Neal, an Irish tenant farmer's daughter, is raped by her employer's son. She fights back, castrating him. His family responds by having her convicted of theft and transported to Australia.
Kate becomes Lieutenant Kendrick's convict mistress, and when he loses her in a game of cards, she ends up as Captain Spencer's 'honey pot'. Life is good, and Kate dreams of a settled future with Spencer. She is shocked when he abandons her.
Thanks to the support of a group of friends - both convict and free -her 'family of strangers', Kate faces new challenges in her life. The colony's trading community sees her as 'a female convict meddler' and works in concert to get rid of her. She battles them and wins the right to be herself - a free woman of independent means. (from author's website http://www.sanchona.com/synopsis.html)
