The Secret River
Kate Grenville
“There was hardly a door, barely a wall: only a flap of bark, a screen of sticks and mud. There was no need of lock, of door, of wall: this was a prison whose bars were ten thousand miles of water”
Available as Paperback, eBook
Kate Grenville’s modern classic of one man’s loss, struggle and survival in the Australian wilderness, introduced by Diana Athill
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE
A BBC2 BIG JUBILEE BETWEEN THE COVERS READ
London, 1806. William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly.
His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. Soon Thornhill, a man no better or worse than most, has to make the most difficult decision of his life.
“A vivid evocation of the rawest kind of colonialism.”
Jem Poster
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“We have had to wait five years for The Secret River but the wait has been worth it….Splendidly paced, passionate and disturbing.”
the Times
“In one stroke the author captures both Sullivan’s emotional dependence and Will’s compassion. Will’s relationship with Sal is frequently fortified by such psychological insights. Their mutual awareness gives the couple a convincing weight as well as engaging the reader’s sympathy and deepening the narrative tension. By this stage, what started as a sumptuous historical with its brilliantly atmospheric depiction of Georgian London’s Stygian gloom, has developed into a profound journey of self discovery.”
independent On Sunday
“Winner of the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction with The Idea of Perfection, Grenville’s latest, beautifully written novel concerns William Thornhill, a 19th-century convict from London deported to Australia, where he staked a claim on ancient Aboriginal lands - with tragic consequences.”
financial Times
“Ambitious new novel… Grenville’s skill is to turn what could have been too obviously a representative moral fable into a rich novel of character.”
sunday Telegraph
Kate Grenville
Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s best-loved authors. Her works of fiction have won numerous awards both in Australia and internationally. The Idea of Perfection won the 2001 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and became a long-running bestseller. In 2006 The Secret River won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Searching For The Secret River, the story behind this novel, is also available from Canongate, alongside her first novel, Lilian’s Story, and The Lieutenant. Kate Grenville lives in Sydney.
