True History of the Kelly Gang

This was one of the books I'd chosen for my work book club so I had been looking forward to reading it for a long time. Interspersed with newspaper articles of accounts, this book is written from the perspective of Ned Kelly which made for a refreshing change. It's listed as historical fiction but truth be told I only know the basics of Ned Kelly so I am not sure how many liberties Peter Carey took when writing this or which parts are more fiction than history but that's the good thing; the writing doesn't jar from history to fiction, it all blends so well so that it's easy to read without being distracting.

Ned Kelly is definitely likable in this book (I guess that's the idea given that it's written from his perspective) and it's a little 'poor me' but at the same time there is a difference in the crimes he admits to doing and the ones he seems unfairly accused of so it's not as if it's all written with him being completely innocent of everything. But from the outset it appears the poor guy never stood a chance but to end up in crime.

I devoured this book, reading it in a week which for me is really fast. The style was great as was the language used which made the characters come to life in my mind, and the book gave a great picture of what life was like for early migrants, convicts and settlers to Australia.

True History of the Kelly Gang - 4 stars!

True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey