
The Secret River
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Narrated by:
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Paul Blackwell
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By:
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Kate Grenville
In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife, Sal, and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand. But the colony can turn a convict into a free man. Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim 100 acres for himself.
Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan, and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them. Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, soon has to make the most difficult choice of his life.
©2005 Kate Grenville (P)2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Producer: Heather Steen.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
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Sad but good
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Vivid, well-told, life-story novel
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Powerful yet heartbreaking. An absolute must for every Australian
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Why the music?
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But there is another story within this story, that of the natives of that region who are nomads, living on fishing and foraging and who are forced to leave the land where they were born by the white immigrants. This story is also told from the viewpoint of the protagonist, William and his wife Sal and children.
In the beginning, this family takes a' live and let live' approach and does well, until the tribe attacks and kills their neighbors and destroys their crops. There is a bloody and brutal confrontation in which many tribe members are killed and removed from the land.
William experiences a pyrrhic victory even though he becomes very rich after this encounter. One of his sons is estranged from him. But as with other emigration and immigration stories, this is also what happens to many immigrants, and it is not unusual to be changed by brutal experiences, moments of madness all ensuring one's own survival at any cost.
Magnificent historical fiction on settlers of NSW,
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if you're a man of imagery go ahead otherwise there's better things to read
boring
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The narrator is simply brilliant. The best narrators add so much life and heart to a book. I can’t recommend this reading highly enough.
To the indigenous people of Australia. You were robbed and murdered and called uncivilized criminals. It is impossible to imagine what could ever undo this injustice. It is heartbreaking to see how little has been done.
Fantastic book
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Life as we make it
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This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
someone that likes a boring flat narrator and a rubbish storylineWhat was most disappointing about Kate Grenville’s story?
it is the worst portrail of convict settelment that didn,t get to shack up with wife and kids when first transportedWho would you have cast as narrator instead of Paul Blackwell?
i don,t think you could narrate this story betterIf you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Secret River?
the start and didn,t get past first chaptersit should stay secret
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The beginning of the book drags and the last couple of chapters feel rushed and sentimental. The rift between Thornbill and his son would seem ripe for some exploration... but... nothing.
Bit of a plodder
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