Books The Secret River

Read online The Secret River.pdf PDF, EPUB, MOBI, TXT, DOC The Secret River There is no way to sugar-coat the shocking adventures of this novel. The hardship and horror of the Australian released prisoners trying to make a life for themselves and the Aborigines who want to keep their land will take your breath away. It is moving, emotional and also a distressful look at a slice of Australian history. In late 1700s England, William Thornhill’s family slowly slide into a bleak life of destitution causing him to steal food to keep his family from starving. He is caught and sentenced to hang but is spared at the last minute. He and his family are sent, by the English courts, to prison life in New South Wales, Australia. When his time is served he is released into the wilds of the land to make a life for himself, his wife and his small child. They do fairly well in the Sydney settlement, however, much to his wife’s dismay, William has bigger dreams. He wants to venture out and own his own piece of land up the Hawkesbury River. As he gets his farm started he faces a larger challenge. The natives of the land want to see him gone and they set out to make that happen!This is an extremely emotional story based on the true history of the confrontations between the whites and the blacks during a time when both sides had to fight for the land. I really like Kate Grenville’s straight forward and descriptive way of telling this expressive slice of history by Kate Grenville