Sarah Thornhill

Australian author Grenville concludes her trilogy about early colonial Australia with Sarah Thornhill, which continues the story of the Thornhill family through the eyes of the eponymous youngest child, whose life as a white child born and bred in Australia is at odds with the experience of her convict-turned-landowner father.

Whether you have read the other celebrated novels in the series - The Lieutenant and The Secret River - or not, Sarah Thornhill will grip you from the off. With a gift for eminently readable narrative, Grenville allows us to join Sarah as she grows up from feisty, naive, lovelorn child into an emancipated, independent, admirable woman. When the brutal actions of the past impact on her love for sealer Jack Langland - whose mother was indigenous - Sarah is not cowed, but will go to great lengths to atone for her forebears' shocking decisions and her father's selfishly skewed attempts to make amends.

In Sarah, Grenville has created a distinctive voice, which she retains throughout. We learn of her past as she does, and root for her as she struggles with her conscience, trying to make the best out of her lot.

Touching, truthful, and beautifully written, Sarah Thornhill exposes us to sickening events in early colonial Australia that may well have happened, should never have happened, and should never be forgotten. A must-read.