Advertisement ::

Enlarge Cartoon

Lieutenant Daniel Rooke is a gifted mathematician and astronomer. He sails with the First Fleet to newly-discovered New South Wales where his intention is to follow the comet that is due to appear in the autumn. With him we watch the creation of a settlement at Botany Bay, the near starvation of the prisoners – the overflow from His Majesty’s prisons in Britain, and the brutal punishment of anyone who disobeys the Governor’s laws.

Rooke’s life changes course when he is the one member of the settlement who is able to make contact with the Aboriginal people. Tagaran, a young Aboriginal girl, teaches him the rudiments of her complex language. Rooke has a mission, but the relationship of the settlement with the native people turns nasty and he is drafted into the punitive expedition that has instructions to bring back six men or six severed heads.

This beautifully told novel is based on historical fact and the true story of Lieutenant William Dawes. Dawes kept notebooks relating his exchanges with a young Aboriginal girl and the language she taught him, but Kate Grenville has infused the story with her usual magic and vividly evoked the barren landscape around Sydney Cove. The tale is riveting.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.