South of Darkness

My name, then, is Barnaby Fletch. To the best of my knowledge I have no middle name and cannot say of whom I am the son, or of whom my father's father's father was the son. Alas, my origins are shrouded in mystery.

Thirteen-year-old Barnaby Fletch is a bag-and-bones orphan in London in the late 1700s.

Barnaby lives on his wits and ill-gotten gains, on streets seething with the press of the throng and shadowed by sinister figures. Life is a precarious business.

When he hears of a paradise on the other side of the world - a place called Botany Bay - he decides to commit a crime and get himself transported to a new life, a better life.

To succeed, he must survive the trials of Newgate Prison, the stinking hull of a prison ship and the unknown terrors of a journey across the world.

And Botany Bay is far from the paradise Barnaby has imagined. When his past and present suddenly collide, he is soon fleeing for his life - once again.

A riveting story of courage, hope and extraordinary adventure.

About the Author

John Marsden grew up in three states of Australia, and now lives in Victoria. John started his own school in 2006. Candlebark is in a beautiful forest near Hanging Rock, and is John's proudest achievement.

John has published more than 40 books, including the bestselling The Tomorrow Series.

John is one of Australia's biggest selling and most awarded authors.