Son of Hydra: A Historical Novel of Love, Exile, Redemption, and Australia’s First Greek Convict
by Shelley Dark
Meet Shelley
Shelley Dark is a bestselling and award-winning Australian author of historical fiction and narrative nonfiction. After a lifetime raising cattle on Queensland’s Granite Belt, she reinvented herself as a writer, relocating with her husband to the Sunshine Coast and embarking on a research journey that took her to archives in Greece, Malta, Britain, Ireland and Australia.
Her light-hearted travel memoir Hydra in Winter traces her solo winter journey to the Greek island of Hydra in search of her husband’s ancestor, Ghikas Voulgaris—Australia’s first Greek convict, sentenced to death for piracy. The book was named a Notable Book of 2025 by one of Australia’s most respected literary critics, Samuel Bernard, in The Weekend Australian, and awarded a Gold Medal in the Global Book Awards, 2025.
Her latest novel, Son of Hydra, is a sweeping historical fiction inspired by Ghikas’ life, spanning the Greek War of Independence to early colonial New South Wales. Shelley’s work explores exile, identity, belonging, and reinvention, and is known for its rigorous research, emotional restraint, and vivid sense of place. It has won wide critical acclaim and a Silver Medal in the Global Book Awards, 2025.
She is a member of two writers’ groups: the ALLWRiTE Club, and Noosa’s Writers on the Coast.
When she’s not writing, she is usually researching or travelling. And she’s always hot on the trail of the perfect cream bun.
About the book: "Son of Hydra: A Historical Novel of Love, Exile, Redemption, and Australia’s First Greek Convict"
Sydney, 1829.
Ghikas Voulgaris arrives in the penal colony of New South Wales as the first Greek convict in Australia. Found guilty of piracy, he has avoided the gallows but been exiled half a world from home—the final stop in a journey that began on the Greek island of Hydra.
Born into a powerful shipping family, Ghikas was raised to command men and captain his own fleet. But a reckless act during the Greek War of Independence—attacking a ship supplying the enemy—sets in motion a chain of consequences he cannot outrun, carrying him from the war-torn Mediterranean to prisons in Malta and England, and finally to the far edge of the British Empire.
In the colony, no one cares who he once was. Least of all Mary—an Irish orphan who refuses to bow to any man.
Ghikas is determined to survive his sentence, return to Hydra, and reclaim his birthright.
But Australia has other plans.
Inspired by a true story, Son of Hydra blends Greek and Australian history into a sweeping tale of love, exile, and the search for identity.
What readers are saying
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Kyra Geddes, author of The Story Thief
“High stakes action, sweeping landscapes and a heart-stopping romance—Son of Hydra has it all.”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Rowena R. beta reader
“I’ve literally done an all-nighter.”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Anne H. beta reader
“I couldn’t put it down, as I just had to know what happened.”
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