The Secret River

More Information & Critical Reviews

Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes, has been adapted for the stage and as an acclaimed television miniseries, and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville’s other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Dark Places and the Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection. Her most recent books are two works of non-fiction, One Life- My Mother’s Story and The Case Against Fragrance. She has also written three books about the writing process. In 2017 Grenville was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. She lives in Melbourne.

• Winner, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, 2006
• Winner, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize and Community Relations Award, 2006
• Winner, Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Christina Stead Award, 2006
• Winner, Literary Fiction Book of the Year and Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2006
• Shortlisted, Miles Franklin Award, 2006
• Shortlisted, Man Booker Prize, 2006
• Winner, Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, 2017

‘Fabulous historical fiction.’ Australian

‘A few sentences of Grenville’s makes one realize that much of the writing one encounters in a novel these days is thin and perfunctory. Reading The Secret River may put you off anything less accomplished for a while.’ Daily Express

‘One of the most entertaining, accomplished, engaging novels written in this country…We always knew Kate Grenville was good but this one is brilliant.’ Courier Mail

‘There is no doubt Grenville is one of our greatest writers… A book everyone should read. It is evocative, gracefully written, terrible and confronting. And it has resonance for every Australian.’ Sunday Mail

‘The Secret River is a wonderful novel that will change the way we think about our past…I couldn’t put it down.’ Diana Gribble, Reader

‘…a powerful, highly credible account of how a limited man of good instincts becomes involved in enormity and atrocity.’ Peter Craven, Age

‘Kate Grenville’s The Secret River stands out as a work of sustained power and imagination, of poetry and insight. No truer piece of fiction has been written about the Australian past.’ Peter Temple, Weekend Australian

‘Splendidly paced, passionate and disturbing.’ Salley Vickers, The Times

‘An outstanding study of cultures in collision…chilling, meticulous account of the sorrows and evils of colonialism.’ Saturday Guardian

‘A vivid and moving protrayal of poverty, struggle and the search for peace.’ Independent

‘…Grenville’s magnificent novel [is] an unflinching exploration of modern Australia’s origins.’ New Yorker

‘The Secret River is a masterwork, a book that transcends historical fiction and becomes something deeply contemporary and pressing.’ Chicago Tribune

‘Grenville’s powerful telling of this story is so moving, so exciting, that you’re barely aware of how heavy and profound its meaning is until you reach the end in a moment of stunned sadness.’ Washington Post