For the Term of His Natural Life

The grim and tragic story of life in an Australian penal colony.

One of the great classics of Australian literature, For the Term of His Natural Life is a story of inhumanity and suffering, of whips and chains and torture racks. But, though no attempt is made to soften the truth of the depths of degradation to which men sank in the harsh, dark days of our convict past, Marcus Clarke’s masterpiece is not a bitter book. It is filled with life and peopled with unforgettable characters: Frere, the magnificent barbarian; Sarah Purfoy, aglow with colour and vitality, attracting men as moths to light; John Rex, the consummate villain; gentle, sweet-natured Sylvia…

And woven through the story is the golden thread spun from the faith and hope of Sylvia, the innocent child who loves the luckless Rufus Dawes, condemned to transportation for life for a crime he did not commit.