Marion and the Forty Thieves | Author: Sarah Luke

Marion's life is anything but ordinary. The daughter of the principal, Captain Neitenstein, she is the only girl aboard a magnificent floating boys' school, anchored permanently in Sydney Harbour in the late 1800s.

Based on the real life Marion Neitenstein, this middle-grade 'faction', which offers an immersive and historically accurate experience of an unusual nineteenth-century institution for neglected boys. Marion's middle-class life is contrasted with Sydney slum life and wharf culture.

The author used primary sources to research the story, such as old gaol inmate records and even Quong Tart's original menus, and delves into these sources in the endmatter, covering topics such as the Nautical school-ships Vernon and Sobraon and their captains, the Rocks, Quong Tart and more. The text is accompanied by real photographs from the ship, portraits of three Sobraon boys from the admissions book and images of Sydney street scene from the period.

Hardcover
20 x 15 cm
208 Pages