Amelia’s Tears

Parramatta 1828

In the Female Factory Amelia is waiting her assignment. Forced out against her will, she follows the other women and walks up onto the dais where men claim them. She is assigned to a man from Castlereagh and knows her worst nightmare is just about to start. With foul breath and black teeth the man is disgusting. She is violently raped before she even arrives at his place and this continues regularly. Over the next few months things go from bad to worse, concluding in an unwanted pregnancy.

Her brother Jimmy finds a way to keep in contact via a friend named Robert. She pours out her heart to her brother in a letter, telling him of the horrors she’s dealing with. He gives her a thread of hope and encourages her to stay firm in her faith. All she can do is pray.

Another of Jimmy’s friends, Major Ned Grace, enters her life in Parramatta and he starts to ease her path. Things change, but now she has a child in tow. How can she ever go back to a ‘normal’ life? Who would ever love her with her background. Even Ned doesn’t. Can she ever find love?