Laurence Joseph Murphy

Annie Bags Laurence Joseph Murphy

This is a work of fiction that is informally based on a real person, Annie Ferdinand. Annie is believed to have been born into a noble family in Prussia in 1851. Her mother died when she was very young, a loss that affected both her and her father significantly and she travelled to London, England with him to support him while he negotiated the return of his estate, which had been seized by the French during the Franco-Prussian war. Annie was devoted to her father, but yearned for the company of someone who would love her as much as her father loved and cherished the memory of her mother. She met and fell in love with a well-bred Englishman, James Pottingley, but her happiness was short-lived for events conspired to separate them. Annie refused to believe that James had left her intentionally and she set out to find him, a journey that took her to some of the most inhospitable regions of Australia. She wavered between optimism and despair, fighting her own personal demons as she faced the physical and mental hardships that she encountered along the way. This is the story of her search, its awful conclusion and the reason she became known as the legendary Annie Bags.