Sarah Evans by Bernice Barry is a historical, suspenseful, and captivating tale of suffering, strength and resilience. It is the story of Sarah Evans — an actual person.
In London in 1813, the body of a small boy was found in the river with a brick tied around his waist. His death was not an accident but murder. The child is recognised as George Evans and his mother Sarah is arrested and charged with his murder. This is a crime punishable by hanging.
Sarah is already known to the constabulary. She was born into poverty, illiterate and believes she has no rights at all. With her friend Lucy they struggle daily to find food and shelter.
Sarah, at age 18, is falsely accused of theft and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Dreading her fate as she had heard horrific stories of convict voyages and of life in New South Wales she is relieved when Thomas Aris saves her. She is placed under his care as a servant in his household.
Thomas Aris is the Governor of London’s notorious prison, Coldbath Fields.
Sarah welcomes her new life, but it quickly becomes apparent she might have been better off had she been transported as a convict to NSW.
Sarah’s world is one of cruelty, corruption, and exploitation — a world where the law disregards women. On the other hand, Lucy has been sent to NSW as a convict for a life of remarkable opportunities and freedom.
Sarah leaves the Aris household but she cannot escape Thomas Aris’ control over her. It is a time in London when prison and political reform are greatly needed.
Sarah meets Catherine Despard, a strong woman seeking reforms. As Sarah faces challenge after challenge, she realises no one can take away your thoughts and the freedom of your mind.
Sarah’s resilience is admirable as she fights for her own rights and her life. The story is told by herself, her friend Lucy and Henry Jones the clerk of the court.
The book is a captivating and thought-provoking read as we learn the circumstances leading up to George’s death and await Sarah’s fate.
Sarah Evans is a real person, as are all the supporting characters. Bernice Barry came across Sarah’s story while reading transcripts of court cases at The Old Bailey.
Using the actual transcript and cleverly filling in the gaps of Sarah’s life she has created this interesting and suspenseful story. Thank you, Bernice, for writing this — it is important these stories are told so we do not forget the suffering and journey of generations of women who have come before us.
The book is easy to read, events flow and the characters are relatable. Well worth reading. Five stars.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Sarah Evans by Bernice Barry. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
This is a novel that is basically from truth in relation to the story of Sarah Evans and the author has thoroughly investigated on with fiction added in between the lines to make such a longer story that is a real page turner from start to finish. Superbly written. It really captures your attention.
The story revolves around a young lass called Sarah Evans who was unfortunately born into poverty who had never learnt to read or write. She has a childhood friend in Lucy and as they got older, they would have to scrounge around for food and shelter just to exist.
Sarah is found guilty of a crime she never did and then was sentenced and was to be transported to NSW but was secretly transferred to Coldbath Fields which is a notorious prison in London. This is the request from the Governor Thomas Aris.
Her friend Lucy is transported to NSW as a convict though. They lose touch as they are on opposite sides of the world now. Lucy knows that friendships can be strong even when apart and because she can’t write herself, she engages the help of someone to write for her and hopefully one day Sarah will be able to receive and have them read to her.
Sarah is kept as a slave to entertain Thomas Aris who is such a cruel man. Sarah has such a horrendous time of cruelty, sexual favours wanted by Thomas. She bears some children to him over the years where are some are hard to read. Sarah would always fight for her life and her children no matter what. She was a brillant loving mother at such a young age.
Thomas Aris just tries to control her life throughout the book. Sarah lives in many different places in her life and we follow her steps in the years of 1798 to 1813.
This is perfectly written with a few descriptions that had me feeling ill just at the thought of Sarah’s time back then. It made me appreciate that I didn’t grow up in those years for sure.
Thank you to Beauty & Lace and Echo Publishing for sending me this book to read. It was a real eye opener and a fascinating read.
Thankyou Beauty and Lace and Echo Publishing for the opportunity to review ‘Sarah Evans’ by Bernice Barry.
The setting of the book commences in 1798 and we follow the life of Sarah Evans, living in London where poverty, starvation and homelessness is common.
She is wrongly imprisoned in the notorious coldbath Fields prison but then is taken on as a ‘servant’ to Thomas Aris the governor, when he takes an unhealthy interest in her. However, she would have been in better circumstances had she been transported to Sydney as he and his family are cruel and treat her badly.
She receives a pardon (or so she thinks) and struggles financially finding it difficult to find places to live and food to eat, relying on friends who are no better off than she is.
It was so sad to read of her circumstances and the tragedies she endured which I won’t mention as that would spoil it for the review reader.
I was interested to read at the book’s end that the character Sarah Evans was actually a real person.
This is such a great book and I read it in record time.
Bernice Barry takes you to the London of the early 1800’s and the way the majority of the population in London lived, and writes with reality and compassion.
Excellently written and definitely 5 stars from me!
The author reconstructs Sarah Evan’s life from research she uncovered while reading 19th century trials. Sarah is an illiterate young woman in 1788 who is wrongly accused of theft and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Her life long friend Lucy was the culprit but Sarah doesn’t betray her friend. Sarah is secretly taken to Coldbath Fields and removed to the home of the Governor Thomas Aris. The governor is a sadistic cruel man who is as corrupt as many of the magistrates and men he deals with but Sarah has no say and no choice to do as he bids. She becomes pregnant and the governor sends her from his home to have his baby. His hold on Sarah, even though she no longer lives under his roof, continues over many years and several pregnancies. Sarah learns that true friendships are formed with the strong women who are living in poverty like herself.
This is a heart wrenching story of a time when women had no say and no freedom. Death and starvation was part of everyday life. I am in awe of the research the author has undertaken to recreate the life of a woman who broke the chains of her past to become a free thinking strong woman in a time where men ruled.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read Bernice Barry’s Sarah Evans – this book is based on fact with a mingling of fiction and what might have been for poor Sarah.
As a young girl Sarah is accused of stealing and sent before the court where she is turned over to the Governor of a cruel and notorious prison to ‘work’ in his home – she becomes pregnant to him and has no rights – she manages to leave his house but he still has the upper hand and she has another child to him – what follows over the years where she goes from one house to another all in dire poverty is heartbreaking – she is then accused of the death of one of her children and is back before the courts again – did she do it or has the sadistic governor had a hand in it.
A great read showing how poverty and how little rights women had back in 1700 – 1800’s affected their lives and their children.