The Secret River

By Kate Grenville,

Book cover of The Secret River

Book description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2006 COMMONWEALTH WRITERS' PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE IMPAC DUBLIN PRIZE

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…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked The Secret River as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book was my introduction to Australian literature. I loved its eloquent evocation of a world totally new and mysterious to its characters. Although I was vaguely familiar with Australia’s penal colony past and with the destruction wrought on Aboriginal lives and culture, this book brought it home. I deeply appreciated the way it took me into the minds of men and women, most of them well-meaning but ignorant, and showed me how they missed the point of where they were and how to thrive there. The tragedy of that ignorance resonates with me, since I see it all around…

Kate Grenville explores colonisation and its impact on indigenous people through the eyes of settlers who are at times blind to their missteps – such as the removal of food crops that were important to the local Aboriginal population, the Dharug people of the Hawkesbury region. The vivid way Grenville exposes the brutality of the removal of Aboriginal people from their land will stay with me always. Grenville draws on her own family’s settler history to tell the story; aware of not being able to speak for the Aboriginal people’s experience, she includes only a few words of Aboriginal…

From Katherine's list on "new" histories.

If you love The Secret River...

Ad

Book cover of The Ballad of Falling Rock

The Ballad of Falling Rock by Jordan Dotson,

Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: “Are his love songs closer to heaven than dying?” Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard it…

Want books like The Secret River?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 58 books like The Secret River.

Browse books like The Secret River

Book cover of The King Must Die
Book cover of The Dispossessed
Book cover of The Yield

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,889

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Secret River, you might also like...

Book cover of Talland House

Talland House by Maggie Humm,

Royal Academy, London 1919: Lily has put her student days in St. Ives, Cornwall, behind her—a time when her substitute mother, Mrs. Ramsay, seemingly disliked Lily’s portrait of her and Louis Grier, her tutor, never seduced her as she hoped he would. In the years since, she’s been a suffragette…

Book cover of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney by Mark Warren,

Winner of the 2024 New Mexico - Arizona Book Award.

In this deeply researched novel of America's most celebrated outlaw, Mark Warren sheds light on the human side of Billy the Kid and reveals the intimate stories of the lesser-known players in his legendary life of crime. Warren's fictional composer…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Aboriginal Australians, penal colonies, and Australia?

Penal Colonies 13 books
Australia 335 books