mrs kelly the astonishing life of ned kelly's mother

Without any moralising or judgment, Grantlee guides us through the unforgiving Australian penal system, the vicious wrongdoing of Ned Kelly, and the terrible atmosphere of fear and violence that fostered such madness – and the best part is, I feel, how readable it all is. The world has offered her no sanctuary from its harshness: she sells contraband liquor to get by has never made enough money to feed her starving family and the criminality of her son seems, at best, a logical conclusion.

mrs kelly the astonishing life of ned kelly

The rest, as they say, is history.īut Mrs Kelly is fatalistic about her son’s grievances. At such a young age he soon joins the notorious bandit Harry Power to rob and pillage the bush tracks, drifting in and out of prison numerous times before his eighteenth birthday and engaging in bloody fistfights in the forgotten back rooms of dusky pubs, and all the while building his reputation – for all the wrong reasons. Recently, the right history books have enjoyed serious commercial success – the likes of Richard Fidler’s Ghost Empire, The Silk Road by Peter Frankopan, and even Sapiens by Yuhal Noah Harari spring to mind – and Grantlee’s latest is a welcome addition to the tribe.Įllen Kelly comes to Australia from Ireland and almost immediately experiences the brunt of life’s cruelty, turning her to morally murky ways of keeping her family afloat (and out of prison) – although she quite often fails at the latter.Īnd Mrs Kelly’s misfortunes are indeed vast: she loses children to her violent criminal world, to sickness and injustice, and after her husband Red Kelly dies from drink and melancholy it’s up to her only son Ned (aged twelve) to become the man of the house.

Mrs Kelly: The astonishing life of Ned Kelly’s mother by Grantlee Kieza is a staggering accomplishment that can’t be missed by history buffs and story lovers alike.

Mrs kelly the astonishing life of ned kelly's mother