Book orders
Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady: the true story of bushrangers Frederick Ward and Mary Ann Bugg (Allen & Unwin, 2011) can be purchased at bookshops. Alternatively you can purchase copies of all of Carol Baxter's books below using the Paypal 'Buy Now' icon. To find out more about each of Carol's books, go to the bottom of the page. If you wish to purchase a pack of Carol's books that is not listed below, you can do so via this LINK to her website.
Individual book
You can order one copy of Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady below.
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Special Book Packs
The following two book packs allow you to purchase all of Carol's books at special discount price below.
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Book pairs
Copies of Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady can be purchased with Carol's other books below:
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Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady
plus Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable Total |
RRP $33
RRP $30 RRP $63 Now $57 plus postage ($10) |
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Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady: the true story of bushrangers Frederick Ward and Mary Ann Bugg (Allen & Unwin, 2011)
He was the gentleman bushranger ... she was the woman who rode with him. This is the true story of Captain Thunderbolt and his lady.
"Bail up!" demanded Captain Thunderbolt before he shouted the bar with the innkeeper's own profits. Driven into banditry by injustice, this colonial Robin Hood, magnificent horseman and skilled bushman was celebrated by his victims as vigorously as he was hunted by the law.
She was his chief lieutenant, his eyes and ears. Intelligent and beautiful, Mary Ann Bugg dressed like a man, rode like a man, and helped keep Thunderbolt ahead of the troopers and trackers intent on pursuing him to the end. Until one day ...
Compellingly written and richly detailed, Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady has it all - action, drama, and two protagonists who defied social conventions for freedom. This is an unputdownable story of an extraordinary partnership and a fresh retelling of one of Australia's greatest bushranging stories.
Awards: Equal first in the Society of Women Writers Biennial Awards (Nonfiction category), 2013
"Bail up!" demanded Captain Thunderbolt before he shouted the bar with the innkeeper's own profits. Driven into banditry by injustice, this colonial Robin Hood, magnificent horseman and skilled bushman was celebrated by his victims as vigorously as he was hunted by the law.
She was his chief lieutenant, his eyes and ears. Intelligent and beautiful, Mary Ann Bugg dressed like a man, rode like a man, and helped keep Thunderbolt ahead of the troopers and trackers intent on pursuing him to the end. Until one day ...
Compellingly written and richly detailed, Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady has it all - action, drama, and two protagonists who defied social conventions for freedom. This is an unputdownable story of an extraordinary partnership and a fresh retelling of one of Australia's greatest bushranging stories.
Awards: Equal first in the Society of Women Writers Biennial Awards (Nonfiction category), 2013
The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable: A true tale of passion, poison and pursuit (Britain's Oneworld, 2013)
The electrifying story of a criminal Quaker, a poisoned mistress and the dawn of the information age.
John Tawell was a sincere Quaker but a sinning one. Convicted of forgery, he was transported to Sydney, where he opened Australia’s first retail pharmacy and made a fortune. When he returned home to England after fifteen years, he thought he would be welcomed; instead he was shunned.
Then on New Year’s Day 1845 Tawell boarded the 7:42 pm train to London Paddington. Soon, men arrived chasing a suspected murderer – but the 7:42 had departed. The Great Western Railway was experimenting with a new-fangled device, the electric telegraph, so a message was sent: a ‘KWAKER’ man was on the run. The trail became a sensation, involving no apparent weapon, much innuendo, and a pious man desperate to save his reputation – and would usher in the modern communication age.
Told with narrative verve and rich in historical research, this is a delicious true tale of murder and scientific revolution in Victorian England.
Reviews:
- London's Times: 'as lively and readable as a crime novel'
- London's Independent : 'totally irresistible'
John Tawell was a sincere Quaker but a sinning one. Convicted of forgery, he was transported to Sydney, where he opened Australia’s first retail pharmacy and made a fortune. When he returned home to England after fifteen years, he thought he would be welcomed; instead he was shunned.
Then on New Year’s Day 1845 Tawell boarded the 7:42 pm train to London Paddington. Soon, men arrived chasing a suspected murderer – but the 7:42 had departed. The Great Western Railway was experimenting with a new-fangled device, the electric telegraph, so a message was sent: a ‘KWAKER’ man was on the run. The trail became a sensation, involving no apparent weapon, much innuendo, and a pious man desperate to save his reputation – and would usher in the modern communication age.
Told with narrative verve and rich in historical research, this is a delicious true tale of murder and scientific revolution in Victorian England.
Reviews:
- London's Times: 'as lively and readable as a crime novel'
- London's Independent : 'totally irresistible'
Breaking the Bank: An Extraordinary Colonial Robbery (Allen & Unwin, 2008)
A fast-paced history of Colonial Sydney that tells the extraordinary story of the country's largest ever bank robbery and the people caught up in its wake - from the author of An Irresistible Temptation.
It was the largest bank robbery in Australian history. On Sunday 14 September 1828, thieves tunnelled through a sewage drain into the vault of Sydney's Bank of Australia and stole 14 000 in notes and cash - the equivalent of $20 million in today's currency. This audacious group of convicts not only defied the weekly exhortation 'thou shalt not steal!', they targeted the bank owned by the colony's self-anointed nobility.
Delighted at this affront to their betters, Sydney's largely criminal and ex-criminal population did all they could to undermine the authorities' attempts to catch the robbers and retrieve the spoils. While the desperate bank directors offered increasingly large rewards and the government officers cast longing looks at the gallows, the robbers continued to elude detection. Then one day ...
With a rich cast of characters who refused to abase themselves to the establishment, this meticulously researched and fast-paced history tells the story of the daring Bank of Australia robbery and of the scheming robbers, greedy receivers and unfortunate suspects whose lives were irrevocably changed by this outrageous crime.
It was the largest bank robbery in Australian history. On Sunday 14 September 1828, thieves tunnelled through a sewage drain into the vault of Sydney's Bank of Australia and stole 14 000 in notes and cash - the equivalent of $20 million in today's currency. This audacious group of convicts not only defied the weekly exhortation 'thou shalt not steal!', they targeted the bank owned by the colony's self-anointed nobility.
Delighted at this affront to their betters, Sydney's largely criminal and ex-criminal population did all they could to undermine the authorities' attempts to catch the robbers and retrieve the spoils. While the desperate bank directors offered increasingly large rewards and the government officers cast longing looks at the gallows, the robbers continued to elude detection. Then one day ...
With a rich cast of characters who refused to abase themselves to the establishment, this meticulously researched and fast-paced history tells the story of the daring Bank of Australia robbery and of the scheming robbers, greedy receivers and unfortunate suspects whose lives were irrevocably changed by this outrageous crime.
An Irresistible Temptation: the true story of Jane New and a Colonial Scandal (Allen & Unwin, 2006)
Seduction, dramatic escapes, embezzlement and political intrigue aplenty in this story of the convict, Jane New, and the scandal that rocked Australia's early colony to its core.
In 1829 at the Supreme Court in Sydney, the bewitching Jane New was sentenced to death. Her crime: shoplifting a bolt of printed French silk. But was she guilty? Many had their doubts.
Although a legal technicality soon quashed Jane's sentence, the autocratic Governor Ralph Darling refused to set her free. Like bees to the honey pot, the gentlemen of Sydney swarmed to Jane's defence including barrister and political agitator William Charles Wentworth and Supreme Court Registrar John Stephen Jr, who were both vigorous and manipulative in their appeals to set her free.
An Irresistible Temptation is set against the backdrop of a particularly divisive period in colonial New South Wales. Not only did the scandal titillate Sydney and its legal and political ramifications push the colony to the brink of a constitutional crisis, but it contributed to the savagery of Governor Darling's public vilification and bestowed upon Jane New a place in the annals of Australian colonial history.
Compelling and fast-paced, An Irresistible Temptation is a meticulously researched history that takes us from the court docks of industrialising England, to Tasmania's raw penal settlement, the rough-house world of Sydney's Rocks and eventually back to the rarefied atmosphere of Britain' House of Commons.
In 1829 at the Supreme Court in Sydney, the bewitching Jane New was sentenced to death. Her crime: shoplifting a bolt of printed French silk. But was she guilty? Many had their doubts.
Although a legal technicality soon quashed Jane's sentence, the autocratic Governor Ralph Darling refused to set her free. Like bees to the honey pot, the gentlemen of Sydney swarmed to Jane's defence including barrister and political agitator William Charles Wentworth and Supreme Court Registrar John Stephen Jr, who were both vigorous and manipulative in their appeals to set her free.
An Irresistible Temptation is set against the backdrop of a particularly divisive period in colonial New South Wales. Not only did the scandal titillate Sydney and its legal and political ramifications push the colony to the brink of a constitutional crisis, but it contributed to the savagery of Governor Darling's public vilification and bestowed upon Jane New a place in the annals of Australian colonial history.
Compelling and fast-paced, An Irresistible Temptation is a meticulously researched history that takes us from the court docks of industrialising England, to Tasmania's raw penal settlement, the rough-house world of Sydney's Rocks and eventually back to the rarefied atmosphere of Britain' House of Commons.
Writing INTERESTING Family Histories
Keen to write an engaging family history? Stuck with little more than names and dates? Uncertain how to begin?
Writing INTERESTING Family Histories is a must-read.
With advice ranging from how you can structure a simple family history and begin writing, through to how you can use simple words and sentences to evoke drama and tension, this book will help turn your dusty piles of notes and photocopies into a riveting family history.
It will challenge you to rethink what "facts" truly are.
It will show you how to extract "dialogue" from original records.
It will help release your creative writing spirit.
There is no need to fictionalise history to make it interesting! After reading this book, you too will be able to turn dry facts into exciting narrative.
Writing INTERESTING Family Histories is a must-read.
With advice ranging from how you can structure a simple family history and begin writing, through to how you can use simple words and sentences to evoke drama and tension, this book will help turn your dusty piles of notes and photocopies into a riveting family history.
It will challenge you to rethink what "facts" truly are.
It will show you how to extract "dialogue" from original records.
It will help release your creative writing spirit.
There is no need to fictionalise history to make it interesting! After reading this book, you too will be able to turn dry facts into exciting narrative.