English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
In 1857 Reverend Geoffrey Willosn has chartered a ship to take him to Tasmania. He believes that Tasmania was the original site of the Garden of Eden. He does not know that the ship that he has chartered is actually a Manx smuggling vessel that is fleeing British customs. He also does not know that the aboriginal people of Tasmania have been fighting British invaders for years.
The novel is told from the point of view of 20 different narrators, from Willson to the captain of the ship to settlers and aboriginals on Tasmania and is both serious and humorous.