Morgan's Run: a breathtaking and absorbing family saga from the international bestselling author of The Thorn Birds

I absolutely loved this book, indeed I read it first as a library loan but enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to own a copy. I bought a hard-back copy even though it is a burden to hold it as I will want to read it more than once. The only other book I read at regular intervals is Lord of the Rings which I have been reading every 10 years or so since 1966.I particularly like the early parts of the book dealing with Bristol which is a favoured City of both my wife and I. The research that went into writing the book is prodigious and I was fascinated on nearly every page by information which was new to me, from rope-making to sawpits.Thank you Colleen for an enjoyable experience which I intend to repeat many times in the future.I have now bought it in it's Kindle version so that I can read it wherever we are.

I really am at a loss for words in describing this book. It is an extraordinary piece of literature which is informative as well as enjoyable. As usual Ms McCullough drags you into the story with her amazingly descriptive prose. She makes you care about the characters and makes you wish that you knew them personally. Richard Morgans story is both inspirational and heartwarming you really feel like you want to just get into the book and either give him a hand or a hug. Highly recommended read.

The author had clearly researched her period in amazing depth but the character of Morgan, a kind of Job like figure, never seemed to come to life. The early part of the book was a long account of all the disasters which afflicted him including loss of his wife, child, money and liberty. Detailed information was given on such matters as manufacture of pistols in the eighteenth century which added to the inordinate length of the book before it even got to Australia. It was difficult to care what happened to the dismal hero.

Morgan's Run is a fantastic book about the first fleet of prisoners from the hulks in London under the command of the Royal Navy and Mariners to Botany Bay/Port Jackson and Norfol Island. It is well written and I believe extreemly well researched. It is the story of a man from Bristol who is framed arrested and after a short spell in Bristol goal taken to Gloucester where he was tried and found guilty. It then describes the politics behind the governments decision to send priosners to the newly discovered lands but largely unchartered waters to Australia. It describes the conditions there the lack of preparations gone into the settling lack of food materials and largely abandonded people. I found it very educational. Better than the Thornbirds.

Well researched and well written. I found it was a little slow to get going and made myself stick with it. I am so glad I did as its a good meaty tome filled with insights in to an awful period of history, and how people somehow survived. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Colleen McCullough says she will write the sequel eventually as it is about real people who are documented, and in fact related to her husband. I do hope she gets on with it as I want it now.I have read quite a few of Colleen McCullough's books, and I think this is my favourite. For all she is associated with The Thorn Birds, since it became a film and TV series, I don't think that is her best work. Morgan's Run is right up there for me.