Crime, Punishment and Redemption

Arts Monday’s Jane Raffan interviews June Slee, author of Crime, Punishment & Redemption, published by the National Gallery of Australia:

“John Ward, writing in his diary whilst incarcerated on Norfolk Island, tells a story of thwarted love that–he claims–led him to a life of crime: including theft, sexual assault and more. In telling the candid story of his downfall he exposes his own ruthlessness and lack of empathy.”

It’s all in this book: love, history, convicts, crime and criminology, Norfolk Island … The author seamlessly weaves the diary – Ward’s own words – into her text to tell a gripping story.

Program blog: https://eastsidefm.org/crime-punishment-redemption-a-convicts-story-on-arts-monday/

The podcast includes the show’s music: prison and chain gang blues and a couple of colonial laments. Listen here:

‘Crime, Punishment & Redemption: A Convict’s Story’, author June Slee, published by the National Library of Australia