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Praise for The Lost Boys of Mr Dickens

Steve Harris’ book brings to life a most bizarre social experiment and all its grotesqueness in engrossing form. It’s a very human, dramatic and authentic tale, written so comprehensively that it is a service to Australian and British readers.

— Tom Keneally, winner of the Booker Prize and Miles Franklin Award

History as suspenseful, vividly portrayed, affecting and moving as the best films and fiction.

— Robert Drewe, award-winning author

Steve Harris skilfully portrays one of the most sobering and saddest stories in Australian history.

— Professor Geoffrey Blainey, AC

A moving story of two boys, embedded in a penetrating and thorough study of a grim part of Tasmania’s history: the harsh treatment of boys transported for often minor crimes.

— Alison Alexander, award-winning author

The Lost Boys of Mr Dickens may be a history, but it reads like a novel — and an excellent one at that. Steve Harris’ rigorously researched book uses the case of two young boys who bashed their overseer to illuminate a corner of convict history which deserves more attention — the story of child convicts, and the inhumanity of the system they existed within. Moving, engrossing and at times confronting, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the causes of child crime and the effects of incarceration, both in the past and today.

— Meg Keneally, author Fled

Praise for Solomon’s Noose

Impressive research and a story that challenges the imagination — except that it’s true. — Les Carlyon, award-winning author of Gallipoli and The Great War

The haunting story of the convict who became the British Empire’s youngest executioner. Beware the shock of the true. — Andrew Rule, award-winning author/journalist

Intriguing story…captivating tale…a fascinating read. — The Australian

An illuminating look at the difficult birth of a nation through its darkest period. — SmithJournal

A chillingly real account…a vivid picture of Van Diemen’s Land in Australia’s formative years. — New Idea

The reader (will be) indisputably captivated…a moving and often poignant description of crime, life and death in colonial Tasmania.— Tasmanian Historical Research Association

Praise for the PRINCE and the assassin

It illuminates a fascinating but forgotten milepost in Australian history.— Professor Geoffrey Blainey, AC

A compelling account of one of the most controversial political crimes in Australian history, it shows how religious zealotry, bigotry and political over-reaction can bring a community to the brink of disorder…

All contemporary politicians and community leaders dealing with the continuing fallout from 9/11 should read it.— Professor Greg Woods QC, legal historian

Marvellous…A truly gripping tale, wonderfully researched. — Jane Ridley, author, Broadcaster and Professor of Modern History, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom

A gripping tale of royal debauchery, abandoned priesthood, mental infirmity and Irish rebellion, leading to the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria’s favourite son…This book has the excitement of a racy political crime thriller, backed by the most sound historical research. It gives the impression of an account written by an eyewitness. There are lessons for us today from the politicians’ overreaction to what was mistakenly viewed as an existential threat to Australian society. — Mark Tedeschi, AM, QC Senior Crown Prosecutor, NSW

…One and half centuries later, in an era of fresh anxiety about terrorism, Australia is again facing a test of character. This time it is Muslim Australians who bear the brunt of prejudice, suspicion and guilt by association. Harris’s book, a fascinating read at multiple levels, helps frame current anxieties in a deeper context.— Professor Greg Barton, Research Professor in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI), Co-Editor, Islam Christian Muslim Relations, Senior Fellow, Hedayah, Abu Dhabi

Harris aims to be more than simply a teller of history. He also wants us to learn from history and uses many quotes from the archives that are remarkably similar in tone and temper to the anti-foreigner, anti-Muslin language of today.— John Algate, The Weekend Australian

Steve Harris’s book The Prince and the Assassin has excavated from the past a little remembered incident that had huge implications at the time and still resonates to this day.­— Ronan McGreevy, The Irish Times