One Free Woman: The True Story of Convict Hannah Rigby

‘‘A fascinating portrait of an extraordinary life." - Sophie Masson AM, award-winning author

Hannah Rigby was a poor Liverpool seamstress, a prisoner and a serial thief. Exiled from her homeland, oppressed by poverty and rigid social mores, used and discarded by a series of men. An “exemplary” servant who was fond of a lark – and a single mother determined to keep her family together.
One Free Woman tells the true, compelling story of the only female convict to stay in Moreton Bay when the penal settlement closed – a woman who notoriously served three separate sentences of transportation, including two to one of the harshest establishments in the country.

It is a heartbreaking and sensitively told story of a life that was typical of many women of the time struggling against poverty and gender inequality – women whose voices throughout history have seldom been heard. One Free Woman reveals new information and celebrates a remarkable woman who, despite a lifetime of immeasurable suffering and loss, could somehow still summon the joy to dance until she dropped.

About the author

Jane Smith
Published January 2025
Paperback
336 pages
153mm x 230mm
ISBN 9781923144712