The Playmaker: A Novel

In the penal colony of Sydney Cove, Australia, at the farthest reaches of the late-nineteenth-century British Empire, Lieutenant Ralph Clark has received a bizarre commission. In honor of the king’s birthday, Clark is charged with staging a production of the George Farquhar comedy The Recruiting Officer using as cast & production crew the highwaymen, whores, cutpurses, killers, & other assorted disreputables exiled there from the British Isles. 

Pining over the family he left behind, Clark must work miracles with only two printed scripts, a company of unstable & largely illiterate “actors,” & the dubious assistance of his colleagues. But the success—or failure—of the mammoth enterprise rests largely on the shoulders of lead actress Mary Brenham, the mesmerizing & enigmatic female convict to whom Clark finds himself strangely & dangerously attracted.

Based on the lieutenant’s real diaries, The Playmaker is a truly remarkable achievement. Atmospheric, dreamlike, & richly evoking time & place, featuring a monumental cast of magnificently drawn, unforgettable characters, it is a work of insight, imagination, & true genius by one of the most notable names in historical fiction.