THE GOVERNOR, HIS WIFE AND HIS MISTRE SS

England, 1783. Ann Inett excitedly awaits her husband Joseph's return from fighting in the American Revolutionary War.

- SUE WILLIAMS

But life has other plans, and soon, Ann finds herself shipped to Australia as a convict, where she becomes entangled with one Philip Gidley King, the future governor of NSW...

She hasn't slept a wink all night but Ann Inett doesn't care. She spent every hour of the hushed darkness impatiently waiting for dawn to finally break and for first light to creep under the door and the faded sackcloth curtains. For this day, she believes, she feels, she knows, will be the happiest of her life – of all their lives. It's the day Joseph is due home.

She bustles around the single room of their home, sweeping the already clean stone floor, polishing again the spotless surfaces and shaking out, one more time, the children's best outfits.

Everything must be perfect for this day; it's one they will cherish forever, and she wants to imprint every detail on her memory. She stokes the fire at the hearth back to life, pulls on her boots and cloak and carefully lifts the latch on the front door and slips outside, pulling the door closed behind her.