The Secret River

By Kate Grenville

A life of petty crime and poverty on the streets of 19th-century London sentences William Thornhill—along with his wife and children—to exile in the colonial outpost of Australia. But among the convicts of New South Wales there is a whisper of the possibility of freedom, away from Sydney and up the Hawkesbury River, for those who dare to stake a claim.

In a richly layered epic that recalls such international modern classics as The True History of the Kelly Gang, Kate Grenville tells the heart-wrenching story of a family in exile. Sweeping across the 19th century, from the teeming banks of the Thames in London to the hardscrabble frontier settlement of Sydney, Australia, The Secret River sets us down in an unforgiving land and masterfully confronts us with the brutal price of colonization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 25, 2010
• ISBN: 9781443400022

Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is a prize-winning fiction writer whose novels include Lilian's Story, Dark Places and the Orange Prize award winning novel The Idea of Perfection. She lives in Sydney with her husband, son and daughter.

Reviews for The Secret River

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I appreciated this story. It took me on a journey to New South Wales in the early 1800s. There were many vibrant scenes and some that were not so pleasant, but overall, it was a learning experience. I'm not sure that I want to read more like this.

[angelajmaher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The high quality of writing is obvious from the start. An unflinching, realistic slice of Australian history.

[missizicks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a tough read. Inspired by the author's family history of ancestors transported to Australia as felons, it follows a working class family whose trials at the hands of an unfair society lead to theft and the threat of execution. Will Thornhill's death sentence is commuted to one of transportation for life, and so he begins a new existence on the other side of the world. The hardest part of this novel is the brutality shown by the white immigrants to the indigenous people whose land they squat on and claim as their own. I couldn't find any warmth in any of the characters who are at the centre of the story. Having said that, it's incredibly well written and thought provoking. You don't have to sympathise with the protagonists of every book, after all.

[sbsolter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Secret River, by Kate Grenville, tells the story of a convict from London who is transported to Australia in the early 1800s and sets out to create a new life for himself and his family. In doing so, he must contend with the natives who were already living on the land.

I found the beginning and end of the book most engaging, while the middle somewhat lost my interest. The stories of settlers in "new" (to them) lands are not ones that especially grab me. I read this book because it sounded like it would go beyond the simple settler story to address something more universal. In some ways, it did. I think Grenville did a good job of making the main character sympathetic, despite the atrocious ways he behaves near the end of the book. The ending was especially good here, because it showed that despite getting what he wanted, life was not all roses in the end.

It is likely that her portrayal of the white settlers' behavior in Australian is fairly accurate, but it still bothered me greatly to read about how cruel people were towards the natives. The book did a decent job of showing the mindset of some of these people and what could propel them towards certain behavior, but it only went so far and still left me wondering in the end how people could act with such cruelty. Furthermore, this book tells a story strictly from the whites' perspectives. We do not see what the natives think or feel about things other than through the whites' interpretation of their behavior.

In the end, I think The Secret River is well-written, but I was disappointed that it did not pull me in as much as I was hoping. I believe there is a sequel, and I am not sure whether I will read it or not.

[brocade_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book belongs to the best sort of historical fiction--where the author never loses sight of her story as she attempts to create an accurate historical setting and social conditions. The story isn't always comfortable. The characters aren't always likable. But the narrative keeps moving.For anyone who lives in a country that had colonies, and for anyone who lives in a country that used to be a colony--where settlers invaded land with no regard for the rights of the native population--I would call this book necessary reading.

[edwinrelf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It IS a patch on "Tree of Man"! The cover blurbs compares Kate Grenville with the great Australian novelist Patrick White. There are some echos of Stan Parker making his mark in the bush in 'Tree of Man' with Will Thornhill's settlement on the Hawkesbury a century earlier. Unquestionably White's novel is far better in every respect but Kate Grenville makes a good stab at it. Her novel can't be dismissed as a mere imitator. They are different stories of course but both have the inner monologue of a quiet, moral and industrious man trying to make a home for a family in a wilderness and yet with extremely limited intellectual resources. For just the comparison between to two novels, 'The Secret River' is worth a read.Grenville follows Will from his early 19th Century childhood in the poverty stricken slums of London and his romance and hope with Sal and her father's row boats (wherries) rowing cargo and passengers across the Thames. Things get worse. Will is convicted to hang but gets a reprieve to transportation to New South Wales. In the colony of Sydney Will and Sal make a go of it and Will takes an opportunity to have a piece of land on the Hawkesbury which brings Will and his family, along with other ex convicts, to confront the Aborigines whose land the Hawkesbury is. The denouement happens, the whites have no capacity to understand the black people nor the rhythms. The whites are from the bottom of a impoverished social order hanging on to an imagined notion that as whites they are civilised and the blacks are savages. Then the slaughter happens with ugly and unnecessary vengeance and an epilogue has Will years later a rich man in his stone house overlooking the river.The novel has some difficult problems. The story of Will, from inside his head, is not fully convincing. This has to do with it not being a man who is writing. The quality of prose is good, the plot is valid. It is just that, as a man, I do not experience Will as a fellow man. I wondered why Grenville chose to inhabit Will's consciousness and not that of his wife Sal who is a great character. She is with Will the whole way and this story could be told by the woman.Another difficulty is that book is almost halfway over before Will and family arrive at the river so there isn't enough time for the writer to explore the interface between the blacks and the whites and as a reader I had to bring to this story a lot more information about Australian Aboriginal kinship and relationship to country in order to appreciate the gulf of misunderstanding between the emancipated convicts and the natives.A third problem is that once the slaughter happens the book just ends; apart from the epilogue of Will's glory as a 'gentleman' of New South Wales. He is estranged from his young son who as a child when they first arrived in Sydney, did get to play with the native children and gained a knowledge without prejudice of the native's dignity and expectation of the whites with whom the seems ready to share the place. An epilogue from the son's point of view would have given breadth and depth to the story.I'd give this book 3 and a half stars if there was that option.

[busterrll · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Slow start - better at end

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although the ending was a bit of a disappointment, I really enjoyed this.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

William Thornhill became a thief just to survive and eat in London. When he finally gets caught, he is sentenced to death, but gets a reprieve and instead is sent to New South Wales where he is bound over to his wife. At the end of that period, he is emancipated and begins to build his own legacy. The reader is treated to the landscape and hardships of that period of Australian history. There is also the issue of the white man versus the black aboriginals of the area. While modern readers will probably empathize with the plight of the aboriginals, the author does treat it with authenticity for that period. Her central character shows more compassion than many of the other settlers toward them. I enjoyed this venture into early 19th century Australia in fiction.

[amme_mr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Angus and Robertson Top 100 (2006 - 2008) Book #93.The Secret River is a historically set novel. The plot was interesting, however, not a lot really happened in the book. It wasn't difficult to read, but it is not a book that I would race to read again.

[janerawoof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

William Thornhill breaks the law so he and family are transported to New South Wales [today's Australia]. The novel deals with what whites are sent there and their uneasy relationship with the natives. William claims a bit of land and he and family try to make a go of it. After a period of years he finds that Australia has changed him. His wife still speaks wistfully of Home -- England -- but to him it is becoming a distant memory. For a long part the novel dragged and it was a chore to force myself to read on. I'm glad I finally read of William's transformation and love of this new land. The description of the massacre was powerful. The novel WAS beautifully written."He remembered how it had been, that first night, the fearsome strangeness of the place.....He tried to picture himself the picture he had so often thought of, the neat little house in Covent Garden, himself lf strolling out of a morning to make sure his apprentices were sweating for him and that no man was stealing from him. But he could not really remember what the air had been like, or the touch of English rain....The picture he and Sal had carried around with them and handed backwards and forwards to each other was clear enough, but it had nothing to do with him.He was no longer the same person who thought that a little house in Swan Lane and a wherry all his own was all a man might desire. Eating the food of this country, drinking its water, breathing its air, had remade him, particle by particle."

[thewasp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

William Thornhill grew up poor in the slums of London, but his luck seemed to changed when he obtained an apprenticeship as a Waterman on the Thames and later married his master's daughter, Sal Middleton. Life again turned hard when Sal's parents died along with all financial security. When William Thornhill was caught illegally supplementing his meagre income he was transported to Australia. Fortunately he was able to be accompanied by his wife and young son.Life in the colony in 1806 was very harsh, but with a dream of building a life on land in the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury River, the Thornhill family battled severe conditions and the threat of aboriginal attack, to forge their new life.Well written and entertaining. A honest telling of a difficult time.

[edwinbcn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kate Grenville's novel The secret river is a dramatic story not often told, and a multiple-layered novel. The story begins with the life of the Thornhills, William and Sal, in utter poverty in London. When William is caught stealing his death sentence is changed to deportation of his whole family to New South Wales. After a few years in the colony, like many (ex-) convicts, Thornhill thrives, establishing a life of comfort unbeknownst to people like him in London. While Sal wants to set money aside to return to England, with the risk of losing everything again and falling back into a life of poverty, William Thornhill wants to stay and stake a claim to a piece of land of his fancy. For years he observes the plot and when he finally wants to stake his claim it appears to be taken. But William ignores the signs, as apparently the digging does not indicate a claim of fellow settlers, but merely the work of some local aborigines, who do not seem to linger.From this stage, the novel's plot becomes a metaphor for the colonization of Australia, for the land on which seemingly no-one lingers does actually belong to the native inhabitants. The story of the Thornhill family then develops to its ultimate, very dramatic climax.The secret river is beautifully written, exploring an intriguing theme and portraying both the colonists and the aborigines in a psychologically completely convincing way. It is a strong story of real interest, not only as a historical novel, but also in its implications to the present.Highly recommended.

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Grenville's depiction of daily life in London and unsettled South Wales is impressive, detailed, and filled with a clear appreciation for both nature and history. In fact, once the story moved to South Wales, I sometimes felt I was reading a piece of nature writing more so than a novel. This, essentially, ends up being the problem with the text. While the story is certainly realistic and detailed, the characters are mere silhouettes from history for the vast majority of the novel. Absolutely, they are believable, but they are also simply drawn, and incredibly flat considering the scope of the novel.At the climax of the work, well into the novel, the characters come more into focus, Grenville's writing of plot and action excelling as she writes what is, fairly clearly, at the heart of the book (and perhaps the reason for the book in its entirety?). Afterward, however, the characters move back to the background, their story only important as it stands as a frontal lens for history.Readers who want the history more than a great read will, most certainly, appreciate the book, and it certainly does give a view to a little enough discussed piece of history. That said, as a novel and as a story to explore for story and character...it's not something I'd recommend, lovely as the writing may be.

[cacky_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There was nothing in this book to make it stand out from all the other stories of a man (sometimes with a wife or a wife and children) who is forced out of his current situation and heads to the wilderness to start a new life. He has to kill a lot of people along the way but makes a success of himself, becomes wealthy and yet has some dissatisfaction.

[aine.fin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little bit of a different read for me, is it possible I've never read anything Australian before?! Feels like this is the first time. Story of William Thornhill and his struggle to survive in early 19th century London culminating in being exiled to Australia as a convict. I know so little about this area of history and found it both shocking and interesting. The brutality towards the native population seems unbelievable today yet is so perfectly played out in this story that you almost feel sorry for William the making of his terrible decisions.

[vancouverdeb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

William Thornhill is born into poverty and the slums of London in the 1880's. In many ways, a good person at heart, William is also a complex character. "He grew up a fighter. By the time he was ten years old the other boys knew to leave him alone. The rage warmed him and filled him up. It was a kind of friend." p. 15Shortly after marrying his beloved wife, Sal, he is sentenced to death for stealing wood. However , his sentence is commuted to transportation to Australia " for the term of his natural life"His wife and growing family accompany him to the "sad scrabbling" p75 town of Sydney in 1806. There he labours for " His Majesty's Government " as England colonizes Australia.As time goes by, William a loving husband and father, wishes for more dignity and patch of land to call his own. Very much against his wife's wishes, William moves his family to a very isolated piece of bush on the side of Hawkesbury River, a spot with which he has become smitten.While the young family tries to eke out a plot of land, slowly they realize that in fact this land is already occupied by aboriginal people. Internally frightened and not really understanding the aboriginal people and their culture , William acts aggressively and angrily with these people. This is a powerful story, and the climax, in which many white men confront the aboriginal people, evoked anger, sorrow and even rage within me. I felt ashamed to to a part of the white race that has so often attempted to colonize other countries by our own villainous treatment of indigenous people. The Secret River shines a powerful and unflinching light on the clash between the forces of greed and entitlement felt by many colonizers versus the aboriginal people.Very graphic, grim, unsettling and powerful , The Secret River will stay with me for a long, long time.4. 5 stars

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very good story about William and Sal Thornhill. William is a convict sent to Australia, where he is released into his wife's custody. William tries to make a life for himself in this new land, aspiring to being a landowner. Along the way, he makes moral choices that affect his family and his own sense of himself. William is a deeply flawed character, very real. Kate Grenville has done an amazing job of telling his story in an even-handed manner. Was William at fault, or were his choices virtually inevitable because of the society he lived in?

[mhanderson_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Secret River is an excellent book with well-drawn characters. It tells the story of William Thornhill, a British man sent to Australia in the early 1800s for theft. As he and his family build a life in this new land, he begins to see that it might be possible for him to achieve more materially than he ever dreamed possible - but he might have to do horrific things to achieve them. The book has great descriptions of the characters, the land, and the family life William and his wife share with their children.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I should note first of all that this is not strictly crime fiction although it is based on Australia's convict (criminal) past and the main characters are felons, and murder does occur.What it does do for the reader is give a pretty authentic portrayal of early 19th century New South Wales, a harsh penal colony. It gives a snapshot, in a "no holds barred" sort of way, of a convict, ticket of leave, family who pioneer life on the Hawkesbury River and eventually begin to call New South Wales home.I say it is authentic because it has all the features of research well done and resonates with what I know of colonial history, but also tells me a little more.It highlights 19th century beliefs about the aboriginal population whom the authorities did not regard as owning the land because they didn't farm the soil. It illustrates the resultant conflict between the aborigines and the convict/emancipist settlers on what was then the frontier of the colony.The reading experience is made all the more enjoyable by the excellent narration skills of Bill Wallis.So why did I read it?I read almost exclusively crime fiction and decided that this year I would challenge myself to read outside the genre occasionally.This is the first one I'm managed.THE SECRET RIVER is the first of a trilogy set in early Australia.It won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature; the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction (the NSW Premier's Prize); the Community Relations Commission Prize; the Booksellers' Choice Award; the Fellowship of Australian Writers Prize and the Publishing Industry Book of the Year Award.It was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Man Booker Prize and longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin prize.

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting characters, beautiful writing - this was a fantastic novel. Fascinating historical setting, and a time and place I knew very little about. Highly recommended.

[timjones_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Secret River is based on the Australian author's family history, and deal with the fateful encounter between the early European settlers of Australia and the indigenous inhabitants into whose lands they spread. History provides a good guide to how the story will end, but that doesn't make the book any less of a gripping read.Although the novel is told in the third person, the viewpoint is that of transported convict William Thornhill, and my only slight reservation is that, though his actions seem in character, the thoughts he is given to express occasionally read like those of an early-21st Century author, not a man of his time. But that scarcely detracted from this fine novel.

[papatrick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Grenville researched her own family history to tell this thoroughly engrossing tale of one of the first white settlers--a prisoner who sentence was commuted to "Australia" as he and his wife attempt to set up a homestead far away from white settlements. Their negotiations, for better and worse, with the aboriginals were all new to this reader,

[figgles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Deservedly award winning story of early colonial times on the Hawkesbury River. Tells the life of a London waterman, transported to Australia for theft, his ambitions for a better life in Australia and of the fatal consequences for the aboriginal inhabitants. Beautifully and sympathetically written, evokes both the grime of eighteeth century London and the fresh beauty of New South Wales as seen for the first time... I have recently taken a ferry ride on the Hawkesbury river and read this book as a consequence. Deals with the same themes but much much better than the dreadful "English Passengers"!

[mels_71_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

William Thornhill a bargeman on the Thames is transported to Sydney with his young family. Despair is replaced by a slim hope for the future. A rather depressing look at human nature. We have the completely awful characters and those who, in order to hang onto their slim hope for the future compromise what they know is right. It's probably an entirely realistic look at human nature even if I would want it to be wrong. An enjoyable read, I'd be interested in reading more historical fiction set in this time period.

[nocto_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book. A fast read but one that's likely to stick with me for a long time. The story is about William Thornhill, born in London in 1777, and transported to New South Wales as a convict in the early nineteenth century; and in a wider sense also about the awful treatment of the aboriginal people of Australia by the settlers.

Very well written; quite weighty but also easy to read. I'll be on the lookout for Grenville's other books.

[jayne_charles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a rather solemn, calmly paced novel about the early interactions between convicts and Aboriginal Australians in the 19th century. It was a fascinating insight into those times, and the author was impressively even-handed, in the sense that the white settlers are shown to be victims of the situation too, rather than being cast immediately as the villains, a role which more rightly belongs to colonialism itself.

[sugarcreekranch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a powerful historical novel about a British felon and his family beginning a new life in the penal colony of New South Wales, Australia. Kate Grenville's words paint a vivid picture of the new landscape and people, including the Aborigines. The clash between the white settlers and the Aborigines leads to horrific violence. The Secret River delivers an enormous emotional punch. This is one I'll remember for a long time.

[checkaboo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an amazing novel this is! I was completely absorbed from cover to cover. I've never been much into Kate Grenville, however I read this as part of the Year 12 English course. Although it never made it on the list of novels for students to read - I loved this book! I loved it for its raw honesty about our aboriginal history and the way in which is highlighted the mind set of White Australia during our nation's colonisation. Such an important message and a novel that all should read! I struggled at times to read the pages - a mixture of tears as well as anger... mixed sometimes with a feeling of distress and contempt. A tale beatifully told and laced with characters you grow to love and despise...Love, love, loved it!

[kaebs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an insight about Australia's early settlers and their interaction with indigenous Australians! This book is a family story spanning from London to Sydney to the Hawkesbury. It is based around seldomly discussed historical events, and provides an amazing insight into conflicting human feelings stemming from individual's personal background, that ultimately result in the various approaches taken by early settlers in their interaction with Aborigines. A great book!