Cette série explore les rêves et les luttes des colons britanniques en Australie, alors qu'ils s'efforcent de construire de nouvelles vies sur une terre étrangère. Les récits abordent les chocs culturels, les défis de la survie et la recherche d'appartenance dans un paysage hostile. Elle dépeint de manière convaincante le courage individuel face à l'adversité et les relations complexes avec les peuples autochtones. La série offre un aperçu captivant de la formation d'une nation et de l'esprit humain.
In 1806, William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman, is deported to New South Wales with his wife, Sal, after stealing wood. Their love for this new land grows, but William faces the harsh reality of needing to take land from its original inhabitants to secure a future for his family. A powerful historical fiction tale.
In 1787 Lieutenant Daniel Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world. After the fleet arrives in Port Jackson, Rooke sets up camp on a rocky and isolated point, and starts his work of astronomy and navigation. It's not too long before some of the Aboriginal people who live around the harbour pay him a visit. One of them, a girl named Tagaran, starts to teach him her own language. But her lessons and their friendship are interrupted when Rooke is given an order that will change his life forever. Inspired by the 1790 notebooks of William Dawes in which he recorded his conversations with a young Gadigal woman, The Lieutenant is a story about a man discovering his true self in extraordinary circumstances.
In the final book of a trilogy that began with her bestselling novel, "The Secret River," Commonwealth Prize-winner Kate Grenville returns to the youngest daughter of the Thornhills and her quest to uncover, at her peril, the family's hidden legacy. Sarah is the youngest child of William Thornhill, the pioneer at the center of "The Secret River." Unknown to her, her father--an uneducated ex-convict from London--has built his fortune on the blood of Aboriginal people. With a fine stone house and plenty of money, Thornhill has re-invented himself. As he tells his daughter, he "never looks back," and Sarah grows up learning not to ask about the past. Instead her eyes are on handsome Jack Langland, whom she's loved since she was a child. Their romance seems destined, but the ugly secret in Sarah's family is poised to ambush them both. As she did with" The Secret River," Grenville once again digs into her own family history to tell a story about the past that still resonates today. Driven by the captivating voice of the illiterate Sarah--at once headstrong, sympathetic, curious, and refreshingly honest--this is an unforgettable portrait of a passionate woman caught up in a historical moment of astonishing turmoil.