Gould's Book Of Fish by Richard Flanagan

 

William Buelow Gould was a criminal, he would agree.  His crimes were mostly minor ones, forgeries and other cons.  But he was sent to Australia and after another crime, sentenced to the worst prison in the colony, one from which no one escaped alive.  But Gould had two talents.  One was for landing on his feet and the other was an ability to paint.  His sentence was made more bearable when he was assigned to a staff member who was making a study of the native fish and wanted Gould to illustrate his writings.

We meet many other men in the novel.  There is the psychopathic commander whose fantastical dreams and projects he used Gould's artistic talents to achieve.  He had a native mistress who was also Gould's mistress on the sly.  There was a native tracker who worked for the staff tracking down escapees.  One of Gould's acquaintances from England was also there and used his engineering skills to make his life bearable.  

But mostly it was a drear place where the daily ration of unhealthy food was broken up by beatings, executions and unending toil.  At times Gould was assigned to the worst cells, ones where the tide came in twice a day and the prisoners had to float near the ceiling until the waters receded.  Those assigned there were never dry, never comfortable.  

This book was a major sensation in 2002, winning the Commonwealth Prize, the New York Times Notable Fiction, L.A. Times Best of the Best and many other awards.  Richard Flanagan was born and raised in Tasmania and the book is based on the stories of transported prisoners who endured what was known as the worst prison in the British Empire.  Set in the 1830's, Gould's ability to rise above the everyday torments and occasional outright brutality of his situation while documenting the evil he saw around him educates and horrifies in equal measure.  This book is recommended for readers of literary and historical fiction.