Kylie Fitzpatrick

Kylie Fitzpatrick’s The Silver Thread is a panoramic novel of rare beauty set between Victorian England, Ireland, and Australia during the great age of sail. When Rhia Mahoney’s uncle commits suicide, she determines to find out what really happened. She is then arrested and forced to board a prison ship bound for Australia. The voyage is made bearable by the women’s daily chore: to sew scraps of fabric into an elaborate quilt. And with every stitch, Rhia unwittingly binds herself closer to a murder plot that has its roots in the cloth trade.