Great Book; really helpful for the English course

The book had a great storyline and was incredibly thought provoking. The themes of ownership, love and hate were fantastically portrayed through Grenville’s descriptive and often sometimes unforgiving writing which displayed the good, the bad and the ugly of Thornhills character who represented her ancestor. Her ability to accept the fact that her heritage came from the atrocious acts carried out by the colonialists is refreshing and this book creates a sense of outright guilt and remorse for Thornhill, especially as we see how Thornhill becomes detached from his family after carrying out the atrocious acts and coercing with the plans of smasher and co. Her use of symbolism and description of nature throughout the book plays with the readers emotion, as she also successfully conveys the message that the aborigines belonged there as nature itself favoured them and they would never leave South Wales despite the hate towards them as symbolised at the end. The performers voice was very calming and he defined different characters very well but I could see myself wanting more action in his tone if I listened to this book in a few sittings rather than over a long period of time listening to 10 minute snippets of this book. However his performance of the book is still one of the best I’ve heard and someone’s voice can be a subjective topic so I would still recommend everyone to get this book as in some way or another you would have been affected by British colonialism and will be able to relate the wide selection of characters in this book.

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Enthralling

Powerfully written, the story starts very slow, but it builds and builds. A wonderful dramatisation of the struggles and entitlement of early Sydney convict settlers.

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Riveting, but the missing chapter?

Absorbing and full of detail, and William shows his realisation at the end, but it would have been satisfactory (though lengthy);to hear the story not told.

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A wonderful listen

I had to read the book for school and it's not my cuppa, but the Australian accent and sometimes dramatic story made it nice.

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Thank you for helping me through my English GCSE

Great book will a deep compelling message about Australia’s struggle with the country’s culture. An interesting listen that is really worth it but on repeat listening it fails to hold up. There is a very good performance form the reader but it lacks the defining features.

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Gruesome story

I found the first half of the story boring, but wanted to give it a chance to get better. The second half was distressing with too much gruesome detail and racist behaviour to be enjoyable.

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Perfect

This is a beautiful reading of a devastating book. A subtle understated story of the cruel colonisation of Australia

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Thought provoking, you’ll need a tissue.

This book opened my heart and eyes ,to so many emotions and depths of feeling. A sad time in history. 😢

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not something I would have chosen but glad I did

I purchased this after watching Sara Cox's Between the Covers, I am so glad that I did, beautifully written. Made me think about the plight of the poor in a different way so interesting, moving and beautifully read. Thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend that you try it for yourself.

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1 person found this helpful

Thrilling, tender, harsh

I can see why Australian friends of mine have read this book several times. It is a compelling story of early convict settlers, a story of survival and love and has become one of my all time favourites. It is read brilliantly and the bars of music that separate the parts is perfect. You HAVE to listen to this book.

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