Showing 1-3 out of 3 reviews.

• The white colonists have pushed the original Aborigines to the fringes of society, poor and begging for food and clothing. We first meet Sarah Thornhill as a young girl, her father an ex-convict turned colonist and landowner and the amazing thing about this novel is that the words and what she feels is that of a young girl. As a teenager, the dialog and observations mature somewhat, and she falls in love with her brothers friend and seal hunting partner, but a boy who her stepmother does not consider suitable. There are secrets in her family, that as the youngest she does not know, another brother she never knew, and her and Jack are torn apart. She marries a Mr. Daunt, has a child, and learns to love the kindness of her new husband and matures. So does the prose, which becomes lush and descriptive, beautiful descriptions of the vegetation and the scenery that is the Australian outback. She finally learns the horrific secrets her family had been harboring and struggles to overcome the guilt this knowledge brings. This is an exploration of a young girl turning into a women as well as the part the white colonists had in marginalizing the original Aborigines and their culture. I found it to be profound, but wonderful as well.

  4.00 out of 5

  Beamis12

• This book is the sequel to The secret river although it can be read as a stand alone book. It tells the story of Sarah Thornhill, the youngest daughter of William Thornhill, whose mother died when she was born. Sarah has an older brother William and he spends much time whaling with Jack Langland who is of mixed aboriginal/white descent. The family tolerate their friendship but when after a time they come to love each other and want to get married a secret is revealed to Jack and he leaves in anger without speaking to Sarah and flees to New Zealand. Later Sarah marries an Irish farmer who in time she comes to love.The book did for me paint a good picture of what life would have been like for the illiterate Sarah, living on the land as a farmers wife. it dealt with the racial and class tensions of the time, and showed how actions committed by her parents generation could surface and have to be dealt with, and affect Sarah's life. It also brought in a situation similar to the stolen generation of later times. I liked the book in that it made me think about the issues of the time and what living then would be like for someon such as Sarah but I did not like it nearly as much as the Secret River which seemed to have a lot more detail in the story.

  3.50 out of 5

  kiwifortyniner

• This sequel to The Secret river unforunately lacks the punch of the forerunner. Reading The secret river allowed me to have a sense of life in England and later Australia with tantelising realism but that was lost in Sarah Thornhill. Sarah is the daughter of Mr Thornhill the main character of The secret river. She is somewhat fiesty choosing initially to flout convention in not riding side saddle and having a liasion with handsom Jack Langland the son of an aboriginal woman. The prejudices and secrets of early Australian history come to bringa pale over Sarah. Eventually she marries and has a daughter settling with a farmer from ireland and a respectful relationship is formed which grows overtime. Some resolution of past wrongs is forged with a trip to new Zealand where a grudging respect for the Maroi women is formed. A rather lackluster novel when compared tot he soaring The secret river.

  2.00 out of 5

  vietnambutterfly

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