@brittarnhild
13 books now. 12 shown in the picture + one read on my Kindle. It will take some time to visit all thr countries in the world, but I am moving :-)
I belong to a reading group here in Trondheim. Last week we discussed a Norwegian book by Edvard Hoem, Slåttekar i himmelen, a historical novel based on his own family story. In the book, several family member immigrated to the Mid-West in the USA. When we decided to read the book, several weeks ago, I knew I had it already, still unread, and left at our cabin. We did not go back to the cabin until a few days before the reading group night, so in between reading my Australian book, I also had to squeeze in some serious reading group reading. One book about Norwegians immigrating to the US in the late 1800. One book about British sent to Australia in the early 1800. Kind of the same theme in both book, but oh so diferent still.
The Edvard Hoem book made a huge impact on me, and going back to The Secret River felt a bit hard. After the pause I was not sure if the book could get hold on me again. But it didn´t taka many pages before I was deeply back in the lives of William Thornhill, a waterman on the river Thames, and his childhood sweethart and wife Sal. They live in deep poverty in London, and as so many others, the only way to keep fame outside their door, they have to steal. One day William is caught and sentences to death, then the punishment changed and he and his famly are sent to the other side of the world, to New South Wales
Life in Australia is just as challenging as in London, and here they don´t have only poverty to fight, but also the black savages already living in the country.
Kate Greenville´s ancestors came to Australia just like William Thornhill did. Greenville had originally planned to write her family tale, but ended up using it as inspiration only, writing a fictional book. And a book which, in a very good way, enlightens this part of our world´s history.
Recent Comments