"I hadn't done it, no. Hadn't lifted the gun. But Dick was right. I'd eaten the good food off the cedar table with the double damask cloth. Slept in the soft beds. Sat in the parlour, never known a day's hunger or cold, never asked where any of it come from.[...] I'd lived in a cosy place made out of secrets and lies. Now I was in another country, and its climate had no mercy. [...]
Shame would keep us silent, shame and the wishing that it was different. Dick and that woman who'd sent me down a johnny-cake, they'd tell their children the story. There was no shame in it for them, only grief. But who would listen to them?
The knowing was Pa's poisonous gift to me, and I was sick with it."
From Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville (2011)
Kate Grenville *1950
Some years ago, a friend returning from Australia, presented me with Kate's book The Secret River. At first, I put it aside for I had judged it by its cover and its somewhat old fashioned language. And additionally, I had never heard of the author...But then I was looking for authors for The English Book Club who had once won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. And Kate was one of them! So finally, I started reading her book and couldn't stop. I took the book on my list and researched the author.
I have read her loose trilogy on the very beginning of Australia in the meantime: The Secret River, The Lieutenant and Sarah Thornhill and it triggered me so far as to do a reading on these three books at the Volkshochschule (adult education centre) in Aalen/Germany on 25 November. Now having researched so much more on the background it seems whatever I would write about Kate Grenville comes short of what she is and does as an author. Therefore, I decided to just give some quick information on the author and the wish to you to watch the video taped by the Sydney Writers' Centre where Kate reveals her idea of writing, gives ideas to aspiring writers and informs about the 'starting point' of her novels: Interview with Kate Grenville
Kate Grenville, born in Sydney, might be rather unknown in Europe but she is well known in Australia. After completing an Art's degree at Sydney University she worked as an editor in the film industry. In 1976 Kate moved to Europe, living for some years in Paris and London, writing fiction while doing film-editing and secretarial jobs. Inspired by American authors she had met in Paris she moved to America in 1980 to pursue a Master's degree in creative writing. In 1983 Kate returned to Australia and became sub-editor until she won a literary grant in 1986. From then on she focused on her writing and published nine novels, various collections of short stories and four books on writing itself.
Two of her books were made into major films, her book The Idea of Perfection won the Orange Prize of Fiction and The Secret River won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Book Prize in 2006. Especially her loose trilogy on the first settlements in Australia had a large influence on her readership: The Secret River, The Lieutenant and Sarah Thornhill. All cover the first years of colonisation in Australia using historical facts being fictionalised to focus on the way the indigenous people had been 'handled' and how it all influenced not only the people who took action but also those who weren't directly involved or came after. She even goes further and claims that contemporary Australia is still influenced by its 'secret' history, a history not being told. As she says in the interview, she is hopeful that eventually "a shared story about what is a shared history" will come of it. Take your time and watch the video!
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