The Girl of the title is Brigid, with the misfortune to grow up in an Ireland, post-famine, when it was still under British rule. As a young woman from a working-class rural background, Brigid’s choices were stark: stay and risk starvation or emigrate as a free settler to Australia, a strange and inhospitable land on the opposite side of the globe. Emigrants to a new world don’t willingly leave their loved ones, knowing as they did back in the 19th century, that they would never see them again.
The story follows Bridgid on her arduous and long journey by ship to Australia and her attempts to make a future for herself. Townsville and Auckland, two cities this reviewer knows well, were accurately portrayed and it is a credit to the author’s skills as a researcher and storyteller that she was able to make the historical research come alive in the story structure.
Well-drawn characters, all of whom speak realistic dialogue, carry the plot to a satisfying conclusion. Recommended for fans of historical fiction interested in the European colonisation of Australia and New Zealand.
