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The Lieutenant

Kate Grenville

Why we're reading this: 2nd story in Thornhill trilogy. Setting - New South Wales colony
[close] 2nd story in Thornhill trilogy. Setting - New South Wales colony

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Mar 09, 2016 Rachel rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian-authors, audiobooks, australian-setting, read-in-2016, historical-fiction, australian-indigenous, recent-faves, set-in-georgian-era, pioneers, racism

A beautifully written book about Daniel Rooke, a shy, but brilliant lieutenant who travels with the First Fleet to New South Wales in 1788. He is tasked by the Royal Astronomer with setting up an observatory and watching for the return of Halle's comet. As he does this he comes into contact with the local Cadigan Aboriginal tribe. In particular he befriends a young girl Tagaran who assists him in painstakingly learning the language. The excitement of piecing together a new language is palpable. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2018 Kim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2024acquired, hardcover, audio-books, act-library, re-read, australian, australian-author, historical-fiction, aus-women-writer, secondhand-purchase

I read and enjoyed this 10 years ago when it was first published. I decided to listen to the audiobook version available from the library on borrowbox to gauge it's impact all these years later and as a comparison to Cotter: A Novel by Richard Begbie which I read recently.
While I still enjoyed much of the story Cotter and The Secret River still resonate more than The Lieutenant did. ...more

1 like · Like · see review