The Broad Arrow: Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a Lifer

Description

Caroline Leakey, writing as Oline Keese, published her first and only novel, The Broad Arrow, in 1859. It tells the story of Maida Gwynnham, a young middleclass woman lured into committing a forgery by her deceitful lover, Captain Norwell, and then wrongly convicted of infanticide. The novel's title describes the arrow that was stamped onto government property, including the clothes worn by convicts - a symbol of shame and incarceration. With its 'fallen woman' protagonist, its gothic undertones and its exploration of the social and moral implications of the penal system, this little-known novel gives an insight into a significant chapter of Australian history from a uniquely female perspective. In this new critical edition, editor Jenna Mead restores material that was cut for a radically abridged version in 1886, restoring for the first time in over a century the complete original text of Leakey's important work.

Caroline Woolmer Leakey (Oline Keese) was born in Exeter, England in 1827. She received limited schooling during her childhood, but read avidly, particularly poetry. While living in Van Diemen's Land with her sister, she began to write poetry, and she published her only volume of poetry Lyra Australis, or Attempts to Sing in a Strange Land in 1854. She died in 1881. Jenna Mead is a senior honorary research fellow at the University of Western Australia.

'The Broad Arrow is much more than a romantic story ... the main Van Diemen's Land part is absorbing ... every page tells the reader something about the colony. This is an important book for the historian and for anyone interested in nineteenth century Tasmania.' -- Alison Alexander * Papers and Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association * 'This new edition of The Broad Arrow is not just the definitive edition of a hugely important colonial novel which should be read on its own terms, but is a valuable contribution to textual scholarship, and will undoubtedly remain a reference work for years to come.' -- Tim Causer * Journal of Australian Colonial History * "Altogether, Mead's critical edition of The Broad Arrow is a welcome, comprehensive and assiduously researched investigation of the history of a narrative that reinforces interest in material and literary histories of nineteenth-century Australian fiction. Moreover, Mead graciously refrains from any unnecessary adulation of Leakey's work and successfully situates The Broad Arrow at an intersection of various literary, cultural and historical trajectories that open up significant new avenues of enquiry." -- Narelle Ontivero * Australian Literary Studies *