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 London thief William Thornhill is transported to Australia. Once there he earns his freedom and settles on what looks like empty land. But the land belongs to the Darug people, and they're prepared to defend it. He can't go back, but how can he go forward? The choice Thornhill makes will haunt him for the rest of his life. Inspired by the author's family history, <i>The Secret River</i> is a classic novel about our nation's past.
As a boy, Daniel Rooke was always an outsider. At school, he learned to hide his clever thoughts from his cruel peers; at home, his parents were bemused by their bookish son. Daniel could only hope - against all the evidence - that he would one day find his place in life. By 1788, Daniel has become Lieutenant Rooke, astronomer with the First Fleet as it lands on the unknown shores of New South Wales. As the newcomers struggle to establish a settlement for themselves and their cargo of convicts, and attempts are made to communicate with those who already inhabit this land, Rooke sets up his observatory to chart the stars. But the place where they have landed will prove far more revelatory than the night sky. Out on his isolated point, Rooke comes to know the local Aboriginal people, and forges a remarkable connection with one child, which will change his life in ways he never imagined.
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.