First published 2006
William Thornhill stands on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in 1806, clutching the deed to one hundred acres of Australian land. The former London waterman has transported his wife Sal and their children to New South Wales, fleeing poverty and the threat of the gallows. The river bend seems like paradise, fertile ground for a fresh start. But Thornhill soon discovers that Aboriginal families have lived on this land for generations. They move through his property as if it belongs to them, lighting fires and hunting game. Thornhill finds himself caught between his desperate need to secure his family's future and his growing awareness that he has taken something that was never his to claim. As tensions escalate between the settlers and the indigenous people, Thornhill must choose between his conscience and his survival.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: conscience-vs-survival, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, Australia
Period: 1806
334 pages · Paperback · Canongate Books
Content warnings: colonialism