Start reading The Secret River on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
The Secret River
 
 
Share your own customer images

The Secret River [Kindle Edition]

Kate Grenville (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £8.99
Kindle Price: £5.69 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £3.30 (37%)
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £5.15   -- --
Kindle Edition, 2 Feb 2006 £5.69   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £7.69   -- --
Audio, CD, Audiobook £68.51   -- --
Unknown Binding --   -- --
Audio Download, Unabridged £14.77 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Description

Review

"We have had to wait five years for The Secret River but the wait has been worth it... Splendidly paced, passionate and disturbing." The Times "Grenville, as ever, describes an Australia so overwhelmingly beautiful that readers will lust after its sunbaked soul too." Daily Telegraph "A sad book, beautifully written and, at times, almost unbearable with the weight of loss, competing distresses and the impossibility of making amends." Observer "Grenville's skill is to turn what could have been too obviously a representative moral fable into a rich novel of character." Sunday Telegraph"

Book Description

Grenville, as ever, describes an Australia so overwhelmingly beautiful that readers will lust after its sunbaked soul too' Daily Telegraph
See all Product Description

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 612 KB
  • Print Length: 358 pages
  • Publisher: Canongate Books (2 Feb 2006)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002RI9UCC
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #10,670 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    •  Would you like to give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Sarah Grenville Page
Sarah Grenville
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 83 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping novel that draws you in 1 Dec 2007
By Julia Flyte TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. I read it very quickly because it was so hard to put down. Kate Grenville writes beautifully and captures the magic of the Australian landscape.

The story is about William Thornhill who is sentenced to life as a convict in Australia in the early 19th century. The first part of the book concerns his life in Georgian England. He is born into abject poverty and although he tries to make an honest go of it, circumstances lead him into crime. He is convicted of theft and his sentence is to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. His wife and child accompany him. This part of the book is a little slow, but the momentum picks up once they get to Australia, about 75 pages in.

In Australia, Thornhill discovers that the new country represents a blank slate where he can re-invent himself and break out of the cycle of poverty and crime that he has come from. He quickly wins his freedom and seizes the opportunity to get his own land and create his own farm, staking a claim to 100 seemingly vacant acres of land. However this brings him directly into contact (and potentially into conflict) with the native Aboriginal people.

The book is beautifully written. It really takes you into the world of early colonial Australia and gives you a sense of how difficult a life the early settlers had. The tension builds and builds as it become obvious that some kind of conflict between Thornhill's family and the Aborigines is inevitable. It made me understand the way that good people can be conflicted about what the right thing to do is. Different settlers in the area make different decisions and as you read the book, it you wonder how you would have acted in the same circumstances.... Read more ›
1 Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A little point of land 1 Feb 2007
By Stephen A. Haines HALL OF FAME
Format:Hardcover
Australian writers seem to have strong ties to the histories of their own forebears. Thomas Keneally, Richard Flanagan and Roger McDonald are but a few authors who have successfully re-painted history on a fictional canvas. Kate Grenville - who in "Joan Makes History" tried to encapsulate all of [European] Australia's history through one imaginary woman - has narrowed her focus with this book. This account of William Thornhill, transplanted Thames River waterman, depicts the kind of person capable of founding a nation. With excellent insight into a man's ambitions, feelings and needs, Grenville chains the reader's interest from the opening pages. Release comes only at the final page, and while satisfying, leaves one seriously disturbed by the cost of "nation building".

Grenville's story isn't new. Thousands of people were "transported" to Australia after 1788, some escaping the gallows, while the rest relieved the intense pressure of British gaols. Thornhill was lucky in his wife Sal's appeal to escort William being successfully considered. There were few women in Port Jackson, and a wife brought stability. Grenville offers a fine touch of irony in William's being "assigned" to Sal as a "working convict". Again, as he had in London, William becomes a waterman - helping a boat owner ferry cargo up and down the Hawkesbury River. While conveying along the river, Thornhill spots a point of land amenable to homesteading.

Thornhill and Sal begin scrabbling a home in the bush, but immediately confront a major obstacle. The key issue in "founding" the nation of Australia is that it was already occupied. Although the British Privy Council would declare an entire continent "terra nullus" - unoccupied land - , the Aborigines, who had lived there for thousands of years, knew otherwise.... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars An uncomfortable read 8 Oct 2007
By catsatcastle
Format:Paperback
William Thornhill grows up in poverty in London, takes to petty crime and then gets a chance to become a waterman, a good way of earning honest money but then is thrown back into poverty again when his sponsor dies. He then resorts to crime again and is sentenced to death but that sentence is commuted to transporation.

From this start, the reader is on his side as he battles to support himself and his family. He is in the midst of a society which values property way above human life.

It was in the telling of the story of Thornhill and his wife trying to build something up in Australia that I realised with a shock that I was rooting for him even though as the story progresses this is at the expense of the indigenous people. He isn't a bad man but there are some among the settlers who see things as more give and take but he can't quite succeed in doing that as his own desire to have some land and something of his own comes before anything else and indigenous people are of no account to him.

I think this ambivalent feeling comes from the writing which is even-handed, unemotional and non-judgmental which is why it came as such a shock.

Thornhill is a vivid character, other characters, even including his wife, less so, and everything is tending towards the moment when Thornhill has to make a choice.

There are some very beautiful descriptions of the landscape, making it sound in some ways like a latterday Garden of Eden, but dangerous.

It did start to drag for me about a third of the way through. I did find it an interesting read but it did make me feel uncomfortable because I found myself questioning whose "side" I should be on.... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully crafted story of dispossession and the dispossessed
This is one of my favourite books, by one of my favourite authors. It sensitively describes the taking of Aboriginal land, cultural difference, the brutality of colonial possession... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lucy Abbott
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for a Book Club
A book I probably would not have read if it had not been the designated book for the March book club. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M E PATERSON
2.0 out of 5 stars A somewhat depressing read!
This was chosen as our May book club read and I just wasn't at all enamoured with it. The synopsis didn't draw me in and I don't think the cover is anything to write home... Read more
Published 1 month ago by C. Rucroft
3.0 out of 5 stars Hackneyed account of early Australian settlers
The story of a transported man who arrives in Australia with his family, battles against the elements, establishes a business and a homestead on Aboriginal territory and gets... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Patricia Fawcett
5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable
This is the best book I've read in a long time. Kate Grenville's prose is simply beautiful; her story tragic yet compelling. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Cyclepath
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
Very descriptive of London long gone,evocative of the harsh reality of life in the 17th century. Then travel to Australia and again depicts the harsh realities of life and also... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Anne Scragg
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived as expected
Good quality book, fitting description well for a used copy. Not creased or damaged on spine. Arrived promptly within 2 days.
Published 3 months ago by Camago
5.0 out of 5 stars The Secret River by Kate Grenville
This was a book chosen by a member of our Book Circle.
It was very well received, lots of comments, lots of research, maps and generally familiarising of the peried, by... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. P. Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars Book
Bought this as a present for my Daughter - in -law, She has not come back with any gripes so she must be pleased with it. Book in perfect condition.
Published 4 months ago by TERENCE PURSEY
5.0 out of 5 stars The Secret River
The book arrived in time and in good condition.

I really like this book and have bought it for several friends. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sue Keane
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Popular Highlights

 (What's this?)
&quote;
A man never knew what kind of stuff he was made of, until the situation arose to bring it out of him. &quote;
Highlighted by 3 Kindle users
&quote;
The thing about having things unspoken between two people, he was beginning to see, was that when you had set your foot along that path it was easier to go on than to go back. &quote;
Highlighted by 3 Kindle users
&quote;
This old fellow is a book, Thornhill thought, and they are reading him. &quote;
Highlighted by 3 Kindle users

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Discussion Replies Latest Post
fiction discussion forum
Self-published books: pain or gain? 		6127 49 minutes ago
fiction discussion forum
Come on - why don't we write our own book right here in the fiction forum ? I'll do the first sentence, and then jump in....hold on, here we go... 		7216 5 hours ago
fiction discussion forum
Nobody reads on the loo do they ? not really - and yet so many people have books in the loo ! 		19 8 hours ago
fiction discussion forum
Spend an erotic night of BDSM, Domination/submission, and exhibition with Jim and Kay this weekend.. 		47 9 hours ago
fiction discussion forum
What is the POINT of zombie novels, exactly? 		135 9 hours ago
fiction discussion forum
Can anyone recommend a good book 		108 9 hours ago
historical fiction discussion forum
New Historical Fiction Novel - based on a true story 		20 1 day ago
historical fiction discussion forum
Historical fiction - for guys 		62 2 days ago
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Customers Who Highlighted This Item Also Highlighted

Back
Next

Look for similar items by category


There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)
      Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. Returns & Exchanges