1. Talk about the reasons Evangeline is first sent to prison and
then to the penal colony of Australia. How does her treatment reflect
the stature of women in the 1840s—in what was then (along with France)
the most civilized country in the world?
2. (Follow-up to Question 1) For fun, consider the disparity
between the worlds of The Exiles and, say, Jane Austen's novels,
which took place a couple of decades decades before the setting of this
novel. Consider, also, that Austen, like Evangeline, was herself the
daughter of a clergyman. Would her life have been as precarious as
Evangeline's?
3. Describe the conditions—the hardships—Evangelina experienced both in
Newgate Prison and on the months-long journey to Australia.
4. In light of the questions above, apply the same topics to Hazel, whom
Evangeline meets on the ship. What is Hazel's background and the reason
she is sent to Australia?
5. In an outward show of grace and charity, Lady Franklin has adopted
Mathinna, a young Aboriginal girl. What is Lady Franklin's actual
purpose in bringing Mathinna into her household? What are her true
feelings toward Australia's indigenous peoples?
6. Considering the cruelty, hardships, and death in this novel, did you
find sections difficult to read at times? If you made it through to the
end, why did you persist? What drove you to overcome those painful parts
to reach the novel's conclusion? And if you reached the end, was it
satisfying?
7. All good historical fiction engages us with real history: it brings
the past alive and puts it in the context of living (albeit fictional)
human beings—and so we learn. What did you learn about the settlement of
Australia that you hadn't known previously?