Cascades Female Factory in Van Diemen's Land opened in 1828 and closed as a gaol in 1877. Female convicts, and some locally convicted women, were sent there for punishment, to be assigned or hired as servants, or to await confinement. In telling their stories, the authors provide historical context for the critical events in these women's lives. Convict Lives will give you insight into Tasmanian and female convict history as well as the lives of these fascinating women.

This book contains the stories of 33 female convicts who passed through Cascades Female Factory. The stories are written by 22 contributors.

1. 'Deserving of severe punishment': Jane Turner by Trudy Cowley
2. Ann Darter, assigned servant by Kate Carlisle
3. Saved by a policeman: Sarah Waters by Leonie Mickleborough
4. A dislike of domestic service: Elizabeth Smith by Alison Alexander
5. Rising to prosperity: Margaretta Sarah Brymer by Trudy Cowley
6. Sentenced in Van Diemen's Land: Mary Vowles by Alison Alexander
7. A hard case: Ann Forrest by James Parker
8. 'Extreme neatness': Mary Jarvis by Jeanette Hyland
9. Catherine Henrys, alias Jemmy the Rover by Fiona MacFarlane
10. 116 grandchildren: Jane Morris by Lesley McCoull
11. 'Mary Jane', a convict slave by Lucy Frost
12. Ellen Scott of the Flash Mob by Trudy Cowley
13. Nurse Ludlow Tedder by Glad Wishart (compiled by Trudy Cowley & Suzanne Pennicott-Jones)
14. Capital respite: Elizabeth Williams by Trudy Cowley
15. Well-behaved women: Mary Kennedy and others by Alison Alexander
16. Hard life and sad death: Mary Kinnear by Trudy Cowley
17. Children in the Female Factory: Mary Parfitt by Sharon Finn
18. 'Mother has shot me': Mary Mulhair by Dianne Snowden
19. 'Fanny Langastaff will yet be a lady' by Dianne Snowden
20. 'On the town': Sarah Myers by Barbara Walker
21. Tough childhood, tough life: Elizabeth Cale by Alison Alexander
22. Five partners, five children: Sophia White by Colette McAlpine
23. 'Your unfortunate and undutiful wife': Ellen Cornwall by Lucy Frost
24. Eleven children: Margaret Callaghan by Pat Henshall
25. Van Diemen's Land's Mona Lisa: Mary Wilson by Suzanne Pennicott-Jones
26. Drunk and disorderly: Margaret Behan by Alison Alexander
27. The Insane Asylum: Nappy King by Trudy Cowley
28. 'An old and much respected resident': Catherine Bartley by Helen Rees, Kim Simpson and Lyn Staite
29. 'The poor creatures': Jane Cook by Lyn McLeavy
30. Enthusiastic absconder: Mary Nicholson by Lorraine Wootton
31. Rebellious Mary Ann Keith by Lorraine Wootton
32. Esther Henrietta Botibol, Sephardic Jew by Susan Ballyn
33. Mary Sullivan, murderer by Trudy Cowley