With his wife Sal and children in tow he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a death sentence.

But among the convicts there is a whisper that freedom can be bought an opportunity to start afresh.

Away from the infant township of Sydney up the Hawkesbury River Thornhill encounters men who have tried to do just that Blackwood who is attempting to reconcile himself with the place and its people and Smasher Williams whose fear of this alien world turns into brutal depravity towards it.

As Thornhill and his family stake their claim on a patch of ground by the river the battle lines between old and new inhabitants are drawn.

The book Secret River joins a tradition of grand historical fiction that stretches from Thomas Keneallys The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith and Peter Careys True History of the Kelly Gang.

Product Details Paperback Book Author Kate Grenville Genre Historical Fiction Publisher Penguin ISBN 9781921145254