The Secret River - Kate Grenville

Ok, I’ll confess straight away: I loved this novel. If I could give it ten out of five stars, I would. The title made me wary (especially after having recently read ‘The Savage Garden’, similarly titled but which I found to be exceedingly dull) and the mountains of critical praise that dominated the back and inside covers made me dubious – could any book really be this good? Fortunately, the answer was hell yes. Background Kate Grenville is an Australian writer whose last novel was published five years before this one and won her the Orange Prize. I can only say that the time spent on this one ... more

I tend to steer clear of the sort of books that are in bestseller lists, simply because I am so often disappointed when they aren't as good as I was expecting. Even those books selected for last year's Man Booker Prize wouldn't usually have been on my to read list. However, with a book token in hand, I decided to give this book a try. Having been nominated for and expected to win the Man Booker Prize last year, Kate Grenville was finally pipped at the post by Kiran Desai. William Thornhill is from a large family living in London, all struggling to make a living so that they can eat their next ... more

Review of The Secret River by Kate Grenville I am reviewing the paperback version of the book. Publisher Canongate Books Ltd, 352 pages, ISBN 978-1841958286, cover price £7.99. On the strength of a friend's recommendation I borrowed this novel from our local library, he had rated the novel very highly, so I thought I would give it a go. I had not come across the author Kate Grenville before so her writing was new and fresh to me. The Plot The book begins in London, the year is 1806. William Thornhill is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Sal, they have one child and another expected ... more

The Secret River 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. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is the book of the month at our book club and is probably not a book I would have chosen for myself but is an extremely interesting portrail into life for people in that age and of the two countries. This story is basically ... more

I chose this book because it had been nominated for the Man booker Prize and the author, Kate Grenville, had previously won the Orange Prize. I don't know enough about the world of literature to understand if these awards are prestigious in the bigger scheme of things, but was presuming that it meant the book couldn't be all that bad. The critique of the novel on the back page declares is as a book "everyone should read" and describes it as "compelling", "magnificent" and "brilliantly atmospheric" amongst other things. My disappointment in the book started on the opening page. The book opens ... more