The Secret River
by Kate Grenville

After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is sentenced in 1806 to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a death sentence. But among the convicts there is a whisper that freedom can be bought, an opportunity to start afresh.

Away from the infant township of Sydney, up the Hawkesbury River, Thornhill encounters men who have tried to do just that: Blackwood, who is attempting to reconcile himself with the place and its people, and Smasher Williams, whose fear of this alien world turns into brutal depravity towards it. As Thornhill and his family stake their claim on a patch of ground by the river, the battle lines between old and new inhabitants are drawn.

I ejoyed this book. I had heard both good and bad about it. After it was short-listed for the Booker Prize, I decided to read it and make up my own mind. It is a simple, yet engaging, novel about a man who falls in live with an alien land and the ramifications of his decisions on his family. Well worth reading, especially if you are interested in novels of our early history or just a good read.

Watch the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club review this novel.