For the Term of His Natural Life

Marcus Clarke’s famous historical novel FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE is ore than one of Australia’s greatest and most widely read classics.  It’s a horrifying, compelling story of suffering and survival under desperate conditions.

Drawing its material from the appalling but authentic annals of Tasmania’s haunted past, it tells of a man who has been born to wealth and comfort yet is transported to the convict island on a murder charge of which he is innocent – and against which he cannot defend himself without betraying his own mother.

Amid searing, unforgettable descriptions of his sufferings at Port Arthur, Macquarie Harbour and the infamous Norfolf Island, the tale unfolds a disturbing and brutal panorama of people and events.

Yet excitement never flags as convicts and overseers all play their parts in the drama – vying for the reader’s attention with flogging, rape, mutiny, disease, escape and even cannibalism.