Kate Grenville started out writing a nonfiction account of her great-great-great grandfather’s family, but she ended up with too many questions. So, she fictionalized their story and combined it with what she had read about other Australian pioneers.
William Thornhill grows up in poverty in early 19th century London, but he sees a future for himself when Mr. Middleton, a waterman on the Thames, takes him on as an apprentice. William has grown up with Sal Middleton, his boss’s daughter, and he marries her shortly after he reaches journeyman status. However, things go wrong for Middleton, and William finds his livelihood is much more difficult to earn. Finally, he is caught stealing part of a cargo to support his family.
Although he is sentenced to death for theft, William manages to get his sentence reduced to transportation, and his family is allowed to accompany him. In Australia, although life is primitive, it doesn’t take him long to realize he can make money there and maybe return to England in style. However, when he takes a job ferrying goods from a river where settlers have begun farming, he sees a piece of land he can own by settling on it.
Now begins a conflict, with William realizing he will never return to England and Sal only wanting to return. The conflict is heightened when some of the settlers have clashes with the aboriginal people.
I was certainly engaged by this novel, and I felt that Grenville did a good job of portraying the conflicts with the aborigines. Grenville’s characters are flawed but totally believable. She looks unflinchingly at Australia’s brutal origin story, which is very similar to our own.
What? Me Read? 
I haven’t read anything by Kate Grenville yet, but this sounds interesting. I don’t seem to have read very much historical fiction set in Australia, although I do have some on the TBR.
If you read A Room Made of Leaves, you could knock one off your Walter Scott list.
By the way, A Room Made of Leaves was on my best books of the year list this year.
I’ve only ever read one novel by Grenville: The Idea of Perfection, which was sweet but kind of lightweight. It won the Orange/Women’s Prize. I own a copy of this one so it’ll be my next from her. A recent release that maybe sounds similar (early Australian history, conflicts with Indigenous people) is The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane.
I loved her A Room Made of Leaves.
I listened to the audio of this a year or two ago and was completely enthralled. It was harsh but as you say very believable.
Yes, I agree.
It’s interesting to hear the commentary in Australia around this one now, particularly in relation to the indigenous characters in the story.
Thanks for sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
You’re welcome!