Swallow
$34.99
“Told in the first person, Burnham’s portrayal of Swallow is both nuanced and unflinching.” – Katy Briggs, Books+Publishing.
Swallow by Alexandria Burnham
The true story of William Swallow – Australian convict and the last man put on trial for piracy in an English court.
It’s 1829 and Swallow has been sent to Van Diemen’s Land – for the second time. He is sentenced to die in the hell-hole known as Sarah Island. But he has other ideas. On the journey from Hobart to his final prison, he rallies his fellow convicts and leads them to mutiny. Bruised by the betrayal of John, a fellow convict, friend, and lover, William plans to sail back home to England. Back to his wife Susannah and their young children.
Swallow is one of Australia's most romantic and untold stories. At its heart, this historical fiction novel explores our most primal urge, to be free from what seeks to cage us - whether that be chains, separation from home and family, or society’s morals that tell us who we can and cannot love.
A rollicking adventure on the scale of Patrick O’Brien, Bernard Cornwell, and C. S. Forester. But it is also a novel about the nature of love itself, and how to break not only society’s shackles, but also the prisons we make for ourselves. Bringing all these threads together is award-winning screenwriter Alexandria (Ally) Burnham - masterful, commanding, youthful, energetic and contemporary. Readers won't be able to put this book down.
"Fast-paced and fascinating, Swallow offers both drama and historical insight. Burnham’s debut combines a sharp eye for period detail with a willingness to confront difficult truths, making it a novel likely to resonate with readers of CS Forester or Jock Serong (Cherrywood, The Burning Island)." - Katy Briggs, Books+Publishing.
Alexandria Burnham is an AWGIE award-winning screenwriter, novelist and writer of comics. A NIDA graduate (2016, Masters, Writing for Performance), she is best known for her feature film Unsound (Apple, 2020), which was nominated for best original feature at the 2020 AWGIE (Australian Writers Guild) awards. A romantic-drama, the film won best Australian feature at the 2020 Melbourne Queer Film Festival and best fiction feature film at the 2020 ATOM Awards.
Ally is also the lead writer for Metropius (2021), a multi-media story world told across animation, comic books and board games, produced by 18 Degrees. Her screenplay won Most Outstanding Animation at the 2022 AWGIE Awards. Her comic book series, Forgotten Rose, is set in the same universe. When there is time, she also teaches at NIDA Open, course designing and training school-aged and adult students in screenwriting for film and television. She is also featured regularly on the writing podcast Prose and Cons.
Praise for Swallow
"This is a book that explores the vast ocean of human emotion but scrutinises every drop with unwavering honesty. It fronts up to human failures and inspects foibles ... There are scenes of rip-roaring action, truly hysterical moments, details wrought with painstaking and meticulous research, moments of breathtaking revelation, and they glisten in the book’s prose," K. T. Major.
"The novel is set in the 1820’s with everything you could want in a good historical fiction: pirates, romance, high stakes, comedy and un-put-downable adventures. Through Burnham’s expressive writing, it explores an intricate love on land and the conflagrant heart that lies at sea." W'Sup News
"Alexandria Burnham’s heartfelt and feisty tale of high-seas adventure and high-stakes love – Swallow – joins the growing ranks of historical fiction brave enough to portray complex and endearing characters living in one of the country's toughest eras.” – author and journalist Michael Burge
Product Details:
ISBN: 1923044524
Publication Date: 01, November, 2025
Page count: 460
