The Secret River:
Written by: Kate Grenville
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Listen
Time: 11 Hours 2 Minutes
This story
is set in London, 1807. William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood
sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable
until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are
made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the
term of his natural life. The Thornhills arrive in this harsh and alien land
that they cannot understand and which feels like a
death sentence. But, among the convicts there is a rumour that freedom can be
bought, that 'unclaimed' land up the Hawkesbury offers an opportunity to start
afresh, far away from the township of Sydney. When William takes a hundred
acres for himself, he is shocked to find Aboriginal people already living on
the river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and
Mrs. Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them. Soon Thornhill, a
man neither better nor worse than most, has to make the most difficult decision
of his life...