Morgan's Run: A Novel

History was good; story was good; research was good; but it all could have been done in 300 to 400 pages, not the 600 she took to tell the tale. She, like Dickens, must have been paid by the word. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

An inspirational historical storytelling at its' best. I loved finding out in the author's notes that the main character, Richard Morgan, was a real person. Wonderful to read about an Australian convict with a good character.

I completely enjoyed the story when I read it and, you got a copy of it to my mate in Canada in double quick time so she could enjoy it to. What more could anyone want from an online company? Thank you very much.

I looked forward to reading this, but so far, halfway through, I am disappointed. It's taken 200 pages to get through all the tragedies in Morgan's life and get him on the road, or maybe water, for leaving. We don't need all the stuff on the tragedies of his life, losing his daughter, wife, then son, and being duped into a guilty position regarding a swindle. Rather boring.
It's also very poorly written, lots of sentence fragments that must be reread to be understood. She also insists on calling anyone from Scotland a "Scotchman". A "Scotchman" is, perhaps, a consumer of fine single malt whisky from Scotland. A man from Scotland is called a "Scotsman".
Perhaps it's different "Down Under", but I think a native from any country should determine the term used to describe his/her nationality,

I'll keep going because I'd like to know more about the voyage, even though all the technical language regarding the ship and its sailing are confusing and never adequately explained. There was one drawing of the ship. Why not include more so that the reader can visualize what's going on?

I was very bored while reading the first hundred pages of this book. Then, I was somewhat bored reading until Richard Morgan gets arrested. After that I was interested, but not fascinated. Once the ships headed for Australia though, I was hooked.

This book is about Colleen McCullough's real life great great, grandfather, Richard Morgan, who was arrested in England under false charges so he couldn't testify against a powerful man who he had caught avoiding taxes. From his place in prison, which is overcrowded thanks to the revolutionary war in America which caused a halt on sending convicts out of the British Isles, Morgan is placed on a prison hulk in the Thames. This is a grand experiment, to see if old slaving boats can work well as prisons without taking up land space. From there, Morgan, along with several other healthy convict buddies, are loaded into a somewhat better ship, and sailed off to the newly discovered Australia, known then as New South Wales. In this way, England solved its prison problem, and colonized a new continent ahead of the Dutch.

I'm sure a lot of the book is family legend about Richard Morgan's real life deeds, but I don't care. This book is a fascinating, brutal slice of real history and an amazing look at a man who will do whatever it takes to survive. Even if Richard Morgan tends to be a little cardboard like, his story and friends who are full of color make up for it. This book turned me on to a whole new area in history, and I'm extremely disappointed there are no other such books about the colonization of Australia.

If you're thinking about reading this, do. It's slow going to the start, but more than worth it in the end. I know it's a book I'll read year after year.

Five stars all the way.

Richard Morgan, a Bristol publican's son and Jack-of-many-trades, is caught up in the devious machinations of the British class system. In circumstances exacerbated by economic disruption caused by the American War of Independence, he's convicted of a contrived crime. After spending time in British prisons and hulk ships, he's transported to New South Wales to complete his seven year sentence. Morgan is a gifted survivor. Closed upon himself, he maintains a precarious balance between despair and fatalistic acceptance. It's a narrow path, but he manages it successfully. With close attention to details, McCullough uses Richard's tortuous path to display her research into everything from the details of building the famous British "Brown Bess" musket through convict and guard relations. Morgan's trials and incarcerations give McCullough the canvas to portray the Georgian justice system. It's not a pretty picture, but his prosecution and detentions give the author time to build Morgan's emerging character. The loss of two children and a wife might have left a better man hopelessly melancholic, but McCullough uses the pieces of his shattered life to forge a new, stronger being. With the support received from uncles and unexpected friends, he emerges as an unwilling leader among the convicts. His abilities are recognized in the convict ships and settlements, places where artisans were at a premium. After time in Port Jackson [Sydney], he's sent to Norfolk Island where he truly blossoms. Given Norfolk Island's reputation as a convict hell-hole, this came as something of a surprise. Building on his artisan talents, Morgan's role takes a departure, becoming respected among convicts and marine guards alike. In sum, she paints the image of this man too boldly. His stature stands far above lesser mortals in surroundings where such prominence is unlikely. Many years after this story a debate raged in New South Wales over the status of redeemed convicts. No trace of that issue arises with Morgan, who, as a free man assumes a place in Norfolk society with amazing ease. He establishes a property straddling a stream - Morgan's Run. Writing historical fiction presents numerous problems. To establish firm credibility, there must be a realistic mixing real and fictional characters. Today's writers on the early days of Australia as a convict colony tend to elevate their characters above the normal run of society. They're uniformly innocent or dupes. Just once, i'd like to see a portrayal of a real villain transported to Port Jackson. McCullough follows the path set by many good historical novelists - a treasury of research transcribed into a wealth of information. In unskilled hands, such abundance can overwhelm the reader, erode the characters and subdue the plot line. McCullough is anything but unskilled, but in this book her story line is timid and the characters only short of stereotyped. Also, her Australian roots led her away from the consensus view of most writing on the convict colony. Not one of the felons expresses a strong desire to return to Britain. The novelty of the land is expressed clearly, but the homesickness most writers convey is lacking here. It's not even fatalism, just indifference. McCullough is a good read and anyone unfamiliar with the circumstances involved with the transportation of convicts will learn much from this book. As the first volume in a series, it's clear her research will bring forth new and entertaining circumstances. Morgan, only forty years of age at the end of this volume, will certainly find new fields to conquer. I look forward to the sequel, more for its information than from any interest in Morgan, who's bigger than life already.

Colleen McCullough was born in Australia. A neurophysicist, she established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney She then worked as a researcher and teacher at Yale Medical School for ten years. She is the author of the record-breaking international bestseller The Thorn Birds and her series of books on Rome have also been bestsellers. Colleen lives on Norfolk Island in the Pacific with her husband.

I really thought that I would enjoy this book and was very much looking forward to the date it was published. But for some reason, I don't know why, I was a little disappointed with the book. It is difficult to criticise a Colleen McCullough book, particularly as it was written in her own inimitable style, with great attention to detail and the ability to take the reader back in time to 18th century Bristol among other places, with it narrow winding streets and gin shops spewing out into the road some of the worst trash that ever sailed the seven seas.

The story is told through the eyes of Richard Morgan, an Englishman, caught up in the bitter arms of fate. Richard is convicted of thievery and blackmail by a justice system that presumes guilt, rather than innocence and is deported to New South Wales and so begins a period of change for a man who was only trying to do his duty . . .

I am sure that many reader's particularly those who follow the author will love this book. It is well written and has a good and well thought out storyline. It just did not gel for me personally.

I have not read McCullough's "Thornbirds", having seen the movie, but I have been a huge fan of her "Masters of Rome" historical fiction series, so I thought I would give "Morgan's Run" a try. I certainly wasn't disappointed. It is about the first colonization of Australia and Norfolk Island as penal colonies by Britain. Some may find it lacking because it is, after all, closely based on the real-life story of an actual penal colonist. It is not action-packed (the beginning gets off to a slow start as she builds the background of the main character, but still interesting) nor a sweeping epic, but she drew me right into the story and as usual with this gifted author, I found it hard to put the book down. You immediately become immersed in another time and (due to the author's meticulous research) really come to understand the commonly overlooked details of life in our interesting and varied past. She is also a master at fleshing out historical figures and unknowns alike, able to plumb the depths of men's souls and deftly imbue them with personalities as varied and interesting as real life, able to play them together like a concert pianist. Truly a master author, as usual, I eagerly await her next novel.

McCullogh does a fine job in relating the life and times of gunsmith and victualler, Richard Morgan from Bristol, to the penal colony of Australia and Norfolk Island. Her historical facts of the heinous journey via Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope and the terrible conditions that the "Fleet" and its hapless journeyers encountered on its arrival in Botany Bay is both detailed and impeccable. In the centrepiece of it all is our hero, Richard Morgan who defies and survives, with admirable fortitude, all the deprivation and hardships that his circumstances throw at him. The authoress has a wonderful way with words eg when a character in the saga is asked how do they know they love some-one the all encompassing answer is "he fills my eyes and my mind" which is perhaps the most eloquent expression on the emotion. An engrossing read of a great nation forged from horror, desperation and sheer determination.

Colleen McCullough is Australian, and established herself as a writer with The Thorn Birds, a novel of Australia. In the last few years she has been writing stories of ancient Rome, but in Morgan's Run returns to her native Australia. This novel is about the initial colonization of Australia with the Botany Bay penal colony and its offshoot on Norfolk Island, a thousand miles away. The story begins in Bristol, England, as the American Revolution is starting. Richard Morgan is middle class, unassuming, and devoted to his wife and son-unusually so for the time. Prospering until after the American war is lost, Morgan Job-like loses his fortune and family, and runs afoul of aristocratic shenanigans, ending up a convicted felon sentenced to be transported. But with the American colonies gone, England has no place to send her gaol-filling convicts. Barely discovered, much less explored, Australia is picked as the ideal dumping ground. After all, it is two oceans away, and the problem will definitely be out of sight. And by sending only convicts and their keepers, there is not likely to be another of those pesky revolutions. McCullogh captures the soul of long-suffering, long-enduring Richard Morgan as he copes with horrific prison conditions, convict labor, a transport ship little better than a slaver (which it was before being contracted as a convict transport), and a totally disorganized and corrupt expedition. A reader cannot but help to understand why the newly independent Americans insisted on the Bill of Rights as part of its written Constitution. Inept bureaucrats and corruption have been harder to overcome. This is not an action-adventure. It is a well-told tale of a man with deep inner strength, a man who perseveres through adversity. A Job. In her afterword, McCullough promises more about Richard Morgan and his family. Perhaps we will not have to wait too long.

Richard Morgan is the kind of man that makes people sit up and pay attention. An honest, hard working man that has been duped by a dishonest group of people, he finds himself a convict, indentured for 7 years to the New World of Australia. We travel o're the globe with him and can't help but enjoy the straightforward and consistent manner that brings him respect from nearly all that he meets, including the officers aboard the ship he is transported upon. It is in the New World that he makes a name for himself and finds those things that complete a man's life.
I was a great fan of THE THORN BIRDS so I picked up this book expecting more of the same. What I found instead was a book that is more technical and very well researched but lacking the emotion I was looking for. I would give this book a 3.5 if I could. There is also an abridged version on tape that might cut down on the technical details. All said and done it was a very good ending but too little too late. Kelsana 6/11/01

I always think there is but ONE truly great novel inside every every writer, and in Ms. McCullough's case of course I thought it was THE THORNBIRDS.

Morgan's Run proved to be a close third after her novel TIM.

As has been stated the first few chapters of Morgan's Run is a bit tedious, but once Richard Morgan gets on the ships and then lands onto Botney Bay, interest soars.

It's the kind of story that details and chronicles the life of a man who has lost everything, and gained back his integrity, his loast sense of self and finally learned to love once again.

Characterization is rich and engaging, and I became immersed in finding out just how Richard Morgan was going to survive in a land that was vastly different from his home in England, making him face harsh realities that he could either face what was ahead or die. He chose life and what a life it was.

Highly recommended.

Just got back from Australia/New Zealand and saw lots of museum displays about the original settlement of the two nations. The hero of this book ends up at Norfolk Island, but the story itself, told in McCullough's inimitable narrative style, is an epic story of England, its "crime problem" in the late 18th C., the horrible experience of "transportation" to solve this problem, and the struggle of early setters to survive in the newly discovered colonies of New South Wales and Norfolk Island. This book is in the language and idiom of 1780s England, and it amazes me how well McCullough uses this voice, from the Bristol mercantile community to the sailors to the convicts and their guards. You are constantly rooting for Richard Morgan, a larger than life figure who is besets with the plagues of Job. He manages to stay above his circumstances and is finally redeemed.

Wonderful historical novel. Get character development. Exciting settings. The novel includes betrayal, convicts, love, death, whippings, hangings, the founding of Australia, children, starvation, thief, and more. Excellent dialogue. The book is just outstanding. The novel deserves an A+++++++

I really enjoy C. McCullough's books. Her thorough research is much appreciated and she crafts a tale very well. My only reservation about 'Morgan's Run' is the perfection of the hero. Leon Uris's hero in 'Trinity' suffers from the same flawless qualities which make it hard for mere mortals, like myself, to identify. 'Brule', a western adventure tale, set in the mid to late 19th century features another such demigod. Perhaps it's just me, but I find it off-putting when the main character has no flaws.
Aside from that caveat, you should find Morgan's Run up to McCullough's high standards. My three-star rating would be high were Morgan himself a bit more normal.

This book takes some fortitude to read. The first 100 pages are literally the slowest and most boring book I have ever read. However, if you can battle through the bore, the rest of the book is fantastic. It is like it was written by two separate people. If you are not able to force yourself through a boring book, I would not recommend this book for you. The end is worth the pain of the beginning, but it takes some work to get there.

If you are interested in learning more about how convicts transported from the United Kingdom to colonize Australia you will enjoy this book of fiction. The main character, Richard Morgan, is someone who, by the end of the book, you will like and miss once the book is over. The author is very detailed in her descriptions of the characters and circumstances and at times I felt bogged down with the details and wanting to get on with the story. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this "long" book and was a bit sad when it ended as I will never know what their future held.

At the pagecount 220, when Richard Morgan is surprised at his own eloquence, I am caught in surprise at hers, although I ought not be. For I have known her work these two decades, and there is none better now writing in the English tongue.
Colleen McCollough has both a voice and an ear; when she writes, you can hear her characters, and what she writes, you can her own voice, her own very active mind at work -- and at play. When I first read The Thorn Birds, what surprised me most was her voice; it was the first time I ever read a writer that didn't write in American English or even British English, her syntax and rhythms had an element all its own, it was my introduction to a distinctive AUSTRALIAN English (this was the mid-70's, before even Crocodile Dundee, after all).
Once again, she hits the nail right on the head with Morgan's Run. It's exciting to read, you fly right through the book. What amazes me, though, is the level of research she does for every page she writes. You can tell just from the maps and illustrations in each one of her books she's done her homework, and made it so interesting, to boot.
When I read CREED FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM, I wound up infuriated by it. After reading Creed, I realized how tired I was of people following or searching for "a philosophy worth dying for." What I wanted was a philosphy worth living for. Richard Morgan is, in many ways, the opposite number to that novel's J.C. -- he puts his nonverbalized view of life into practice, into action, and Colleen McCollough takes you along on his journey.
There are many sly little touches tossed off throughout. Early on, one of the characters uses the phrase, "The die is cast", which was attributed to Caeser as he crossed the Rubicon; yet, in CAESAR, she suggests an alternate translation of the phrase, "Let the dice fly", which is more in keeping with that books themes and character. I loved catching the reference on the fly (as it were) as I zoomed through this fascinating story. If the language is at first a little off-putting, it seems a trifle arch, but once Colleen gets going and the story gets mvoing, it all becomes of a piece.
I make no apologies; I love this woman, and I am thoroughly enjoying this book. More people should become aware of who she is and what she does and enjoy her as much as I do.

I have read all of Colleen McCullough's novels, and found the Masters of Rome series to be absolutely riveting as well as informative and "real" - Rome at that time came alive for me and the characters had real depth. In addition, she managed to create riveting plot lines that brought me into all the action and helped to make sense of a very far away and ancient time.
Unfortunately, I did not have this same experience with Morgan's Run. I really wanted to know about the beginnings of Australia, and in her usual thorough manner, Ms. McCullough taught me a lot. Even though Richard Morgan is a complex and interesting character, I did not feel myself really caring about him or the many, MANY people he comes into contact with. Near the end of the story I started to finally get into the message that I think she was striving to convey....quiet strength ultimately overcomes adversity, but Richard was SO quiet that he almost bored me. The character, Meghann, in The Thorn Birds, came totally alive for me and Caesar is incomparable in the Rome Series (I am in love with this man and wish I could time travel, even if only half of her description of him is true!). Richard Morgan seems to be more of a plot mechanism and she almost uses this poor man as badly as the people of his time tried to do. He is admirable but there is so much detail written about what happens AROUND him that I barely got to know HIM. I will, however, read the sequels because of the historical knowledge I will gain and because I am now familiar with the main characters and am beginning to see them as more three dimensional.

THe book is brilliant AND historically correct. I love it and am nearly done with it (pp 475). But I just want to say that if Tim Curry is doing books-on-tape, RUN DON'T WALK to get it! Besides his many fantastic albums and acting roles, he's got the most expressive voice I've ever run across! (His version of "Cold Blue Steel, Sweet Fire" written by Joni Mitchell, provided me the first comprehension of what Ms. Mitchell was actually singing about.) If this is a books-on-tape thing, I have no doubt that Curry can and will utterly blow life into the very interesting plot. I have read all Colleen McCullough's books and she is quite an amazingly good writer (whoa, that end-of-the-world one was fantastic). But, gee, Tim Curry the actor/musician? Wow! Hey, this is just a 30-second commentary from me -- look for the real, thoughtful version later...

I have to admit that I abandoned the book halfway through. Although I was expecting a story about the hardships of settling in the penal colony of Australia, I reached the novel's midpoint and Morgan was still on the convict ship, sailing past the coast of Europe. I grew tired of reading about fouled bilge pumps, shipboard diseases, and the quarrels among the ship's officers.
Richard Morgan was a cardboard cutout of a protagonist. His personality radically changed, according the situation at hand, from a quiet tavernkeeper's son to a rum-sotted grieving father to a wise leader of men. Morgan seemed to be no more than a vehicle for the author's detailed treatises on 18th century England and Australia and their history, public health issues, criminal justice system, and shipboard life.
If you are a historical novel buff with a preference for the factual over the fictional, then perhaps this novel is for you. It did not appeal to me.