Das Hurenschiff

"Das Hurenschiff" (2014) is the first book in Martina Sahler's historical fiction duology "Das Hurenschiff — Die Hureninsel," followed by "Die Hureninsel" (2016).

Set in late 18th-century London and aboard the real convict ship Lady Juliana, the novel follows the fates of several women swept up in Britain's practice of transporting convicts to Australia: Claire, who must pay for a theft she did not commit; young Molly, arrested after witnessing a crime; resourceful Rose; and gruff, hardened Dorothy. Thrown together in the ship's squalid hold for the months-long voyage, the women form uneasy alliances as they face the physical and psychological brutality of the crossing.

The novel is grounded in the documented history of the Lady Juliana, one of the "second fleet" ships that carried female convicts to the new penal colony, and uses its ensemble of women to examine survival, solidarity, and injustice under 18th-century British law. The sequel, "Die Hureninsel," continues their story in the penal colony itself.