image of person or book cover 2436334131493267154.jpg
This image has been sourced from Goodreads.
Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Powerful and relentless, the hunger pursues you like a wild beast without respite. You can resist it for hours, even days, but it eventually overwhelms your reason with its desperate desire to be satisfied.

'Eat or be eaten ... that was the terrible choice facing the eight convict bolters from Macquarie Harbour, Australia's most remote and brutal penal colony. Lost and starving after a week in a wilderness no white man had ever crossed, order breaks down when one finally gives voice to their secret thoughts, "I could eat a piece of a man."

'Soon betrayal, lies and murder reign and the convicts start to fear each other more than the spears of the Aborigines. Who'll be served next? Will any of them reach the settled areas alive?

'Bloodlust is the story of this terrible journey as seen through the eyes of Irishman Alexander Pearce, who discovers what happens when men are pushed past their limits and what lies in the dark shadows beyond.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: Dedicated to the memory or Roy 'Rocky' Williamson (1959-2006)[and] Andrew Briscoe (1961-2008).
  • Epigraph: 'I'd yield to the Devil instantly,
    Did it not happen that myself am he! J.W. Von Goethe, Faust: A Tragedy.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Heinemann Australia , 2008 .
      image of person or book cover 2436334131493267154.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Goodreads.
      Extent: xi, [iv], 387p.p.
      Description: illus., maps
      Note/s:
      • Published August 1st 2008
      ISBN: 9781741667004 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

Birthstain Has Become a Badge of Honour Jim Davidson , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 3 no. 9 2008; (p. 6-7)

— Review of Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel ; The Anthology of Colonial Australian Crime Fiction 2008 anthology short story
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 September 2008; (p. 22)

— Review of The Babymoon Melanie La'Brooy , 2008 single work novel ; Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel ; Award Winning Australian Writing 2008 : The Best Winning Writing from Short Story and Bush Poetry Competitions Nationally 2008 anthology poetry short story
History or Legend? Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Newswrite : The NSW Writers' Centre Magazine , August/September no. 180 2008; (p. 12)
Convict Escapes and Escapades in Early Days Grant Hansen , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 August 2008; (p. 16)

— Review of Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel
Convict Escapes and Escapades in Early Days Grant Hansen , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 August 2008; (p. 16)

— Review of Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 September 2008; (p. 22)

— Review of The Babymoon Melanie La'Brooy , 2008 single work novel ; Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel ; Award Winning Australian Writing 2008 : The Best Winning Writing from Short Story and Bush Poetry Competitions Nationally 2008 anthology poetry short story
Birthstain Has Become a Badge of Honour Jim Davidson , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 3 no. 9 2008; (p. 6-7)

— Review of Bloodlust : The Unsavoury Tale of Alexander Pearce, the Convict Cannibal Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work novel ; The Anthology of Colonial Australian Crime Fiction 2008 anthology short story
History or Legend? Nick Bleszynski , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: Newswrite : The NSW Writers' Centre Magazine , August/September no. 180 2008; (p. 12)
Last amended 17 Aug 2021 08:47:00
Settings:
  • Van Diemen's Land (1803-1856), Tasmania,
  • 1820s
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X