The Secret River Book

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...