Shackled is a true story based on the 1846 memoir of Joseph Lingard who, eleven years before was falsely charged, tried and sentenced to be transported to New South Wales. His dreadful experiences and graphic descriptions, first as a convict confined on a prison hulk for nearly two years and then a five month long voyage on a prison ship leaves a lasting impression on the reader. His life and adventures in Australia, completing his sentence, and as a free man travelling around the country for two years before working his passage back to England, makes for fascinating reading.