The Catalpa Rescue, Peter FitzSimons
The Catalpa Rescue, Peter FitzSimons
List: $33.99 | Sale: $23.80
Club: $16.99

The Catalpa Rescue
The gripping story of the most dramatic and successful prison break in Australian history

Author: Peter FitzSimons

Narrator: Michael Carman

Unabridged: 16 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/23/2019


Synopsis

The incredible true story of one of the most extraordinary and inspirational prison breaks in Australian history.

New York, 1874. Members of the Clan-na-Gael - agitators for Irish freedom from the English yoke - hatch a daring plan to free six Irish political prisoners from the most remote prison in the British Empire, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. Under the guise of a whale hunt, Captain Anthony sets sail on the Catalpa to rescue the men from the stone walls of this hell on Earth known to the inmates as a 'living tomb'. What follows is one of history's most stirring sagas that splices Irish, American, British and Australian history together in its climactic moment.

For Ireland, who had suffered English occupation for 700 years, a successful escape was an inspirational call to arms. For America, it was a chance to slap back at Britain for their support of the South in the Civil War; for England, a humiliation. And for a young Australia, still not sure if it was Great Britain in the South Seas or worthy of being an independent country in its own right, it was proof that Great Britain was not unbeatable.

Told with FitzSimons' trademark combination of arresting history and storytelling verve, The Catalpa Rescue is a tale of courage and cunning, the fight for independence and the triumph of good men, against all odds.

About Peter FitzSimons

Peter FitzSimons AM is Australia's bestselling non-fiction writer, and for the past 35 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD and the SUN-HERALD.He is the author of a number of highly successful books, including BREAKER MORANT, BURKE AND WILLS, MONASH'S MASTERPIECE, KOKODA, NED KELLY and GALLIPOLI, as well as biographies of such notable Australians as Sir Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake and Nick Farr-Jones. His passion is to tell Australian stories, our own stories: of great men and women, of stirring events in our history. Peter grew up on a farm north of Sydney, went to boarding school in Sydney and attended Sydney University. An ex-Wallaby, he also lived for several years in rural France and Italy, playing rugby for regional clubs. He and his wife Lisa Wilkinson AM - journalist, magazine editor and television presenter - have three children; they live in Sydney.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chris on July 04, 2021

It took quite a while to get into this story---and I concluded that I don't like the author's writing style---his commentary on the way through, seemingly trying to show he's on good terms with the reader and he just knows what we want to read. Not this reader. 5/10......more

Goodreads review by Dennis on November 11, 2019

I think that the account of the actual rescue of the Fenian prisoners off the coast of Western Australia is the most exciting writing I have ever read. Peter Fitzsimons can stir up controversy, which is his stock-in-trade, but the formula he has developed to his books works like very few others. The......more

Goodreads review by Chris on February 16, 2022

I was going to give it 4 stars until the last 4 pages of the epilogue. Pushed it to 5. Fitzsimons's pace and ability to move between different subplots show why he is perhaps the best Australian non-fiction author around today. If you have been depressed by some of his other stories, this one might p......more

Goodreads review by Siobhan on May 18, 2023

Such an interesting story that I knew nothing about.......more

Goodreads review by Jill on March 26, 2020

This is a great story and well researched but I found the writing style very irritating!......more