The story behind The Secret River
"A novel everyone should read." Irish Times
Shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize
In the summer of 2000, award-winning novelist Kate Grenville decided to open the closed door of her family history. Who was her great-great-great grandfather, Solomon Wiseman, a Thames boatman sent as a convict to Australia in 1806? The answers to this question were revelatory. From the bones of his life a novel slowly evolved: The Secret River.
This is the story of Grenville's investigation, a memoir of the writing process through false starts, wrong turns and exhilarating breakthroughs. It is a remarkable journey of discovery around the globe, across the generations and into fiction.
"Here is someone who can really write."
Peter Carey
