Description from Amazon
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...
About the Author
Kate Grenville was born in Sydney. Her last novel, The Idea of Perfection, won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2001 and became a long-running bestseller. Her five other works of fiction have won numerous awards. Kate Grenville lives in Sydney with her family.

Excellent and very realistic but ultimately disturbing account of the early settlers in the penal colony in NSW. I'm looking forward to reading 'Searching for the Secret River', Grenville's account of writing this book.

Sending this to MissMarkey, a great Australian read.

Thank you Cassiopaeia. Sounds like a good book for undestanding some of the facts about Australia.

Time for this book to be on the move. I didn't get around to reading it. I hope somebody else will. Am putting it on a bookshelf in the local arts centre in Didcot.

I hope you like the book. MissMarkey.

Found it in cornerstone didcot, and it’s now in South Africa on holiday with me