In 1705, the French Court in Versailles was full of plotting and scheming. This was also happening with a Duke's wife and his five mistresses, who were all trying to improve their own circumstances in 'The Orange Grove' by Kate Murdoch. When truth is stranger than fiction you have a novel in the making. Meg Keneally fictionalizes the real life story of convict Mary Bryant in 'Fled' which dramatises the transportation and escape of a forthright and independent women in those early years of Australian settlement.