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The Secret River

The Secret River 1

by Kate Grenville
Paperback
Publication Date: 03/05/2013
5/5 Rating 1 Review

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In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand.
But the colony can turn a convict into a free man.



Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim a hundred acres for himself. Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals-Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and Mrs Herring-are finding their own ways to respond to them.




Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, soon has to make the most difficult choice of his life.




Inspired by research into her own family history, Kate Grenville vividly creates the reality of settler life, its longings, dangers and dilemmas. The Secret River is a brilliantly written book, a groundbreaking story about identity, belonging and ownership.
ISBN:
9781922147424
9781922147424
Category:
Historical Fiction
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
03-05-2013
Language:
English
Publisher:
Text Publishing
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
352
Dimensions (mm):
198x129x31mm
Weight:
0.25kg
Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's most celebrated writers. Her bestselling novel The Secret River received the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. The Idea of Perfection won the Orange Prize.


Grenville's other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Lilian's Story, Dark Places and Joan Makes History. Kate lives in Sydney and her most works are the non-fiction books One Life- My Mother's Story and The Case Against Fragrance.

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Reviews

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1 Review

I read this novel over a month and although it would have been possible for me to read it over a few days, I felt that because the world created by Kate Grenville is so beautifully imagined it would be an injustice not to savour each skilfully written sentence.

The Secret River tells the story of ferryman William Thornhill who is transported as a convict from London in 1806, and arrives in New South Wales along with his wife, Sal, and their two young sons. The family begin their new life in the colony and after eight years Thornhill is declared a free man, and sails up the Hawkesbury River to claim his hundred acres.

The years that follow are marred by conflict: frequent clashes between the Aboriginal people who already occupy the land and the settlers who are claiming it for their own result in ongoing tension and distrust between the two cultures.

At times I found the descriptions of the violence that erupts between the Aboriginal people and the settlers to be confronting and I think Grenvilles intention when it came to writing about this aspect of Australia's history was to appeal to the conscience of every person who reads this story. Despite the serious subtext of the novel, there are some amusing and lighthearted incidents that expose the shortsightedness of the British settlers.

Kate Grenville dedicated this novel to the Aboriginal people of Australia: past, present and future and her refreshingly vivid, and sometimes unforgiving, descriptions of both the landscape and its inhabitants enabled me to imagine a version of Australias history that much of the historical non-fiction glosses over. This historical fiction novel is so powerfully realised that it could very well pass for a non-fiction account.

The Secret River is an exquisite novel and its popularity among both Australian and international readers is not surprising. It is essential reading for all Australians and lovers of Australian literature.

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