Review of Sailors, Settlers & Sinners

[LinaMueller]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sailors, Settlers & Sinners" by Moira Taylor.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Sailors, Settlers & Sinners by Moira Taylor is a fascinating book by a New Zealand journalist who tells the stories of her ancestors from different generations. The most incredible thing is that although she has exciting stories to tell, she never heard them from her father. Several impressive accounts include the escape on foot of a prisoner from Napoleonic France, a husband's attempt to poison his wife, and even a relative who became prime minister (or rather "premier," as people used to say in colonial New Zealand).

The book deals with various themes such as colonialism, adultery, drug use, and the success and failure of characters in different countries. To put things in perspective, George Hall was the author's great-great-grandfather who had a maritime career during the Napoleonic Wars. Other generations, however, had already migrated to New Zealand. There are also reports of trade routes to different places like Brazil, Argentina, etc. The reader will discover what was going on in people's minds at the time and what motivated people of high birth to move to the colonies.

The critical reader already realizes that the author is a first-rate journalist from the first pages. The accounts are incredibly unbiased, and she never tries to embellish the story of her ancestors. This trait is a quality, but it's not the book's best aspect. I enjoyed most knowing the behind-the-scenes details that made New Zealand the first country to give women the right to vote. Albeit just a tiny part of the book, the descriptions of the events that led to such crucial female emancipation are genuinely fascinating.

There is not even a single detail worthy of criticism. I found only one grammatical error almost irrelevant in this 415-page book. However, even this mistake would go unnoticed as it is a wrong spelling of a Portuguese city. There are no profane words or any sexual content.

I rate Sailors, Settlers & Sinners by Moira Taylor four out of four stars for its excellent information and quality. The book is informative, exciting, and memorable. As I made clear in the paragraph above, the book is flawless; the score is self-explanatory. I recommend this book to anyone who likes history—especially those who want to know behind the scenes that you can't find in traditional history books. The reader will find many reports of what the most different people thought in economic, social, and even political terms. And as the author describes different people's lives in different contexts (even in other countries), the reader will have a gold mine of information for those interested in 19th-century history.

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Sailors, Settlers & Sinners
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[Christopherio]

I always thought that stories about one ancestry are usually passed down but that doesn't seem to be the case here. this book entails different tales of the authors ancestors and their experiences. thanks for the detailed review.

[Brian Apamo]

Stories about one's origins are usually intriguing. Thank you very much for the detailed review. I look forward to reading this book.

[Chinenye Achilike]

Though history books are usually boring to me, I'll like to read this one to discover more about female emancipation in that country.