Summary

Hazel’s assignment at Government House came to an end upon the Franklins’ departure in Part 7, Chapter 1, or “Hazel: Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, 1842.” When she attempted to visit Mathinna at the orphanage, she was stopped by the guard. A while later, the superintendent claimed Hazel had lied about Ruby to better her own conditions at the prison. As a result, they revoked her visitations and sentenced her to solitary confinement. They shaved her head and forced her to unravel five pounds of oakum a day with the threat of physical punishment. At first, Hazel sank into despair, reciting The Tempest and prison dirges, even harming herself. She thought about the first time she delivered a baby, and contemplated the pain that the other convicts harbored in their hearts. Hazel reasoned that the only way to move out of her...