Most know the story of Australia’s First Fleet. But who were those convicts, sailors, marines and administrators who travelled to Botany Bay in 1787? And who orchestrated this ambitious expedition? In his meticulously researched new book, John Gardiner pulls back the curtain on the world from which the First Fleet emerged.

Delving into English newspapers, official reports, and government documents from the era, Gardiner vividly captures the squalor of London’s slums, the rotting hulks on the Thames where prisoners languished, and the hardscrabble lives of those who would people New South Wales. We meet real-life figures like Prime Minister William Pitt, Home Secretary Lord Sydney, and the Fleet’s commander, Captain Arthur Phillip. And we discover a society rife with corruption, violence, and despair.

Before the First Fleet to Australia paints an unflinching portrait of late 18th century England in all its vulgarity and cruelty. Gardiner’s fearless account confronts historical truths often glossed over about the First Fleet’s origins. Was this ragged band of convicts a collection of pathetic vagabonds or part of a strategically calculated colonial enterprise? Readers can decide for themselves in this absorbing and revelatory narrative history.