Master Of My Fate

An extraordinary achievement, mirroring an exceptional life, Sienna Brown's debut is breathtaking. Rich and lyrical, it pulses with determination, with hope, and with truth.

Kathryn Heyman

What gives one man the right to own another is the question at the heart of this beautiful meditation on love, loss and liberty through the voice of one who lived it, William Buchanan, lifelong Jamaican rebel forced to become Australian settler. In Sienna Brown’s compelling first novel, Will’s voice is so true, his personality so engaging, his wonder at both the evil and beauty of the world so compelling, his lifelong adventures so heroic, we want to cheer him at every turn. Master of my Fate is a brave and historically grounded addition to the growing body of works examining history through the consciousness of the enslaved.

Olive Senior

Sienna Brown's Master of My Fate is a confident and ambitious debut.

Maxine Beneba Clarke

Based on a true story and written by Brown with compassion and creativity, this tale of William Buchanon's life from slavery to freedom is at once heartbreaking and inspiring. His dawning understanding of being a "chattel" to another man and his rise against this leads him to face his demons and find a hard-won freedom. Powerful and affecting.

Sylvia, Better Read Than Dead

Stripping someone of their humanity because of the colour of their skin, because they have a criminal record, because they were born into the wrong family – as much as Master of My Fate is a book about the past, its themes are disturbingly relevant. So, too, is fighting back.

Elizabeth Flux, The Guardian

Superbly written and well researched historical fiction, built around a unique and fascinating sliver of overlooked Australian convict history. The story rolls along at an absorbing pace through its three locations – Jamaica, London and New South Wales – and it’s a vividly drawn tale that would lend itself easily to a screen adaptation.

MUD prize for First Fiction