March Book Club: The Secret River by Kate Grenville

The Secret River by Kate Grenville is the current title Novel Tea 'n Pages book clubbers are reading.

This book is the winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2006, the winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2006.

'In the early nineteenth century William Thornhill is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. He arrives with his wife Sal and their children in a harsh land he does not understand.


Eight years later, Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury as a free man to claim a hundred acres. Aboriginal people already live on that river and Thornhill will soon have to make the most difficult decision of his life.


Inspired by research into her own family history, Kate Grenville's, The Secret River is a tour de force, a powerful and groundbreaking story about life on the frontier.' Kate Grenville

Date Claimer: Novel Tea 'n Pages ~ March Book Club
                     Wednesday, 7 March, 2012
                     7:30 - 9:30 pm.

Looking forward to seeing you all there...

So, until then,
happy reading...

October Book Club - 'Wanting' by Richard Flanagan

Book Blurb:
'Bass Strait, 1839. A young Aboriginal girl, Mathinna, runs through the wet wallaby grass of a wild island at the edge of the world to get help for her dying father. Eighteen years later in Manchester, the great novelist Charles Dickens is a sensation, starring in a play that more and more resembles the frozen landscape of his own inner life.


The most celebrated explorer of the age, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, adopt Mathinna as an experiment to prove that the savage can be civilised - only to discover that within the most civilised can lurk the most savage. When Sir John disappears in the Arctic while searching for the fabled Northwest Passage, Lady Jane turns to Dickens for help.


Inspired by historical events, Wanting is a haunting meditation about love, loss and the way life is finally determined never by reason, but only ever by wanting. It confirms Richard Flanagan's growing reputation as one of the most original and powerful novelists working in the English language today.'

This was a delicious book to devour. It was captivating and a marvellous read that left you WANTING more. Flanaghan intertwined all threads of the story seamlessly. And, when you wonder...how could you possibly link an Aboriginal girl, an Arctic explorer and his wife, and Charles Dickens, it leaves you scratching your head at how well Flanagan has managed to do so.

This book is stunning and simple to read. The language Flanagan uses is easy on the eyes and flows logically. So glad that this book was added to our list of selections this year. If you haven't already read this ... then we highly recommend you get started.

Until next time,

happy reading...