The Tin Ticket
The Heroic Journey of Australia's Convict Women

Take an interesting story, do impeccable research, then ruin it all with extravagant prose and over-emotional drama – that’s The Tin Ticket. Nothing speaks more for the need of a good editor than this book. The writing is bad. There are too many adjectives used and after a while one does get tired o......more

A fascinating, thoroughly researched topic but a difficult book to rate. Do I give it a four for it's research and details, or a three for the irritating writing and lack of balance? What happened to the editor? The initial pages are so full of florid writing (no noun appears without several adjecti......more

The reviews from readers of this book are all over the map, some harsh, others full of praise. The book did not seem overwrought to me, but rather a page turner. That said, of course there is fictionalization of the experience of the women who were forced into transport. And, yes, the author makes i......more

The topic of this book was compelling, but the writing was so emotionally overwrought it was difficult to read. No noun appeared without an unnecessary adjective, and Swiss's outrage bristles on every page, ironically making it hard for the reader to learn about what it is that got her so enraged. L......more

Middle of the road. It's clear that the author did a wonderful job researching this era, the transportation of women, and the specific women she follows. She can really bring the time period to life with vivid details. She was handicapped by the fact that her main subjects have all been dead for ove......more