Description
A smirking boy shuffled past the door, and Marion, hands shaking, quickly turned the key in the lock. It was Cotterson, the boy from Sewers Canal who wanted to burn the Sobraon. Her heart jolted.
The barge had delivered the Forty Thieves onto the ship!
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. Her best friend has boarded a steamship to France and now it's just her and this ship full of ragtag schoolboys. One night, Marion discovers that a new student, Alexander Walker, is escaping the ship to meet up with his vicious gang, the Forty Thieves. Marion bravely follows Walker into the frightening Rocks neighbourhood to investigate...What are the Forty Thieves up to and will Marion be able to stop them before it's too late?
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. Other important real characters appear, including businessman Quong Tart and the head of the Forty Thieves gang, Joseph Bragg.
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.
Review
Marion is the only girl aboard the Sobroan, a school ship that is permanently moored in Sydney Harbour, as she is the daughter of the tough but fair Captain Neitenstein.
The boys aboard, mostly orphans, have been sent there to be taught how to be acceptable members of society. This has mostly worked, but lately since the arrival of the likeable rogue Alexander Walker, and the growing strength of his old gang the Forty Thieves in Sydney, things are turning bad. Is his old boss, the treacherous Joseph Bragg, trying to get the school closed and his boys returned to him?
Marion discovers things that might lead to uncovering the truth and stopping this evil group. But can she act in time? And which side is Alexander now on?
Based on the real story of both the ship and Marion, this is a terrific tale that provides real insight into the circumstances and situations that people faced in their lives in the late 1800’s. It is full of adventure and heavily steeped in thoroughly researched early Australian life, this is a terrific read for Australian students. It was recommended to us as a book that would best suit the Year 6 curriculum and there would be no problem with students that age reading it, but I feel that the content is also a good fit for general lower secondary students so have included it in our lower secondary package.
