First published 2002
William Buelow Gould arrives at the British Empire's most notorious penal colony with a life sentence and an unusual assignment. Prison officials order him to create paintings of fish. As Gould works on his strange commission, he falls for the black woman who serves as the warder's mistress. Their forbidden romance puts both their lives at risk in the harsh world of nineteenth century Australian imprisonment. Gould tries to document the brutal reality surrounding him, but he learns that prisoners have no voice in writing their own stories. The fish paintings become his way of transforming horror into art, love into beauty. His brush captures more than marine life as he struggles between survival and truth, between the cruelty he witnesses and the passion that sustains him. The colony's violence threatens everything he values, yet through his art he finds a way to preserve what matters most.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: forbidden-romance, survival
Setting: Australia, British Empire
Period: 19th Century
Hardcover · ATLANTIC BOOKS
Content warnings: abuse, violence