The overcrowding of British prisons in the early 1800s was, the ruling classes believed, a problem solved by transporting convicts to the colonies, where labour was scarce. Men, women and children branded "felons" were shipped south, often for crimes that today would barely warrant a firm reprimand.

Those transported, some unfortunate, some admittedly rogues, all had lives before their convictions, though we know little of them now. The narratives in Brian Harrison-Lever's Transported make no claim to be factual accounts. Instead, they look to shed light beyond the numbers and statistics, briefly bringing to life a cross-section of a community that suffered, and survived, transportation.

With evocative illustrations and compelling writing, this book captures the social context of convict transportation.