THE SECRET RIVER by KATE GRENVILLE (2005)

This outstanding novel is much more than just a graphic and detailed account of one family's experience as early settlers in Australia. It is also an allegory of the conflict, anywhere and always, when "civilized" groups of people come against a more primitive culture. The Secret River could have just as well taken place when pioneers arrived in early America or when Europeans discovered the islands of the Pacific, or, indeed, when Homo Sapiens met Neanderthals. The outcome appears to be inevitable.

In 1806 London, William Thornhill attempts to steal a load of wood and is sentenced to hanging. He is reprieved at the last minute and instead sentenced to be transported to Australia, his wife and children being allowed to go with him. What at first appears to him as a sentence as tragic as death instead offers him an opportunity to become what he never could have been in England -- a land owner. His small farm, tamed by back-breaking work, prospers, until he is confronted with those who had always considered the land their own, though they neither plowed nor planted, instead living on what the land freely offered. He considers himself a good man, but he realizes that in order for his family to prosper, he must use force to claim the land for himself.

This novel is unusual in that it is sympathetic to both sides of the conflict between settlers and indigenous people. The situation in Australia was different from other instances of similar conflict because these settlers did not choose to be there, and just had to do the best they could to survive. That adds a special poignancy to their story.

The writing here is most impressive, unobtrusively poetic. The descriptions of 19th century London rival Dickens' descriptions of the same era. Grenville's descriptions of this part of Australia (the fertile, river-fed area) are breath-taking. This might appear to be a success story, in some lights, but it is also very sad, because the winners also lost something irrecoverable of themselves.

I recommend this novel most highly. It was a finalist for the 2006 Booker Prize.