Australia"s convict history is well known, but is often only told from a male perspective. The hundreds of female convicts sent across the world are often forgotten.When best-selling author and historian Babette Smith discovered one of these forgotten women in her family tree, she set off on a journey to discover everything she could about her - and the other 99 women transported with her on the Princess Royal in 1829. Were they really drunks, "genetic" criminals and moral degenerates as many observers at the time believed? Or were they simply victims of circumstances forced to become unwitting and unwilling pioneers in a new land."A Cargo of Women" is a superbly written and insightful account of this complex and controversial period in history.