Compeyson Compeyson Compeyson is the main antagonist of Charles Dickens' novel, "Great Expectations", whose criminal activities harmed two people, who in turn shaped much of protagonist Pip's life. He abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar, and later got Abel Magwitch arrested. After Magwitch returned to England, Compeyson died after drowning in the River Thames while fighting with Magwitch. Compeyson had a good education when he was a child. His appearance was attractive and his manners gentlemanly and smooth. As an adult, he made his living through forgery and financial schemes. One of his fellows in crime was Miss Havisham's half brother,
Convicts in Australia heavily in Patrick White's take on the Eliza Fraser story, the 1976 novel "A Fringe of Leaves". Convictism is canvassed in Bryce Courtenay's "Australian trilogy": "The Potato Factory" (1995), "Tommo & Hawk" (1997) and "Solomon's Song" (1999). The title character of Peter Carey's 1997 novel "Jack Maggs" is a reworking of Dickens' Magwitch character. Many modern works of Tasmanian Gothic focus on the state's convict past, including "Gould's Book of Fish" (2001) by Richard Flanagan, a fictionalised account of convict artist William Buelow Gould's imprisonment at Macquarie Harbour. Kate Grenville based the novel "The Secret River" (2005) on the life