A Room Made of Leaves

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The novel concludes with Elizabeth’s assertions of her sense of being at home in Australia, scaffolded by her knowledge that the property she loves is stolen Aboriginal land. Her relationship with Watkin Tench that's been explored in this novel will encourage me to pick up Tench's 1788, that I've been meaning to read for sometime. It was screened by bushes that framed a view up and down the stream: another airy room made of leaves. there's also a very sort of Jane Austen feel to the book in some ways - lots of wit, lots of charm, and Elizabeth balances her experiences against good humour and a steadfastness which is completely admirable but also believable. How many people will read this novel and believe it is fact instead of fiction, despite Ms Grenville’s disclaimer?

This story, told through Grenville’s sharp lens, is one that will stay with the reader for a long time. He put his hand on his heart with a delicate movement, a caress of himself, fingers spread on his coat, and tilted his head questioningly, submissively, yearningly. For that reason, the stories that come out of them, although starting in the same place, can end up very differently.

The world of Elizabeth that I had created to exist in apart of my brain that was so rich and full of vivid beauty and truth was all of a sudden covered in a dark mist, I know I sound dramatic but it feels fraudulent to some degree. However, in Kate Grenville's story his success is largely due to the resourcefulness of his wife and her skill in managing his difficult personality.

Williams also invents a character through which to experience the world, and gives some of the real people nicknames. I, like many others, went into this book easily fooled that this book was indeed just a collection of memoirs, simply transcribed and made more digestible by Kate Grenville. Nepaisant savo istorinio konteksto, Lietuvos rinkai, spėju, menkai pažinaus ir menkai išmanomo, mokykloje nemokyto, įtraukiantis. Australian history, like most histories, is a bit light-on when it comes to women, because they left so little behind.Kolonializmo tema čia nebuvo perteikta labai dėkingai – vis tiek gentys čia tik „tautelės“, perprantamos nebent iš mokslinio smalsumo, o ir vis tiek visi tokie truputį prastesni, truputį menkesni ir truputį purvinesni, nei kad patys kolonistai – normalu, kai istorija pasakojama iš tuomet gyvenusios moters perspektyvos, bet žodžius visgi rinko šiais laikais gyvenanti autorė. This book tells her story as she settles in New South Wales, learns to manage her husband and makes a life for herself and her children in the colony. It's a lively tale, told without flourish (completely unlike Devotion by Hannah Kent which I've just finished). Against this backdrop she reworks many of the themes of her earlier books including the experience of knowing oneself to be regarded by the world as unattractive, the unexpected arrival of love when all hope of it has been abandoned, and the unrecognised and buried atrocities of early Australian history. Despite having no feelings for her husband she begins a new life there; one that will last until her death in 1850.