Kate Grenville

Awhile ago I read Kate Grenville's The Secret River and really liked it. I can't remember who recommended it to me, but it's a story of a convict from London sent to Australia with his wife. They're very poorly equipped to do anything in the open country but they settle on some land and try to build a life for themselves. Some aborigines are settled close by and almost live better than they do. At some point in the book there is a choice made and it allows them to stay on their land but at a price. You're left wondering if the price was worth it. It's a very provocative book, reminded me too of David Malouf's Remembering Babylon, another Australian heart breaker and one of my all time favorites.
The Lieutenant is much more gentle on the heart but still pretty painful. It's the story of a British science prodigy in the 1700's who grows up in his own quiet world, always at a distance from everyone. And because of the times he ends up in Australia as a Lieutenant in the navy establishing a settlement of convicts. He is perched in a makeshift observatory to charts the stars and slowly and shyly connects with the aborigines they are 'co-existing' with. In this book too a choice is made and again there are consequences. Grenville writes very simply and beautifully. There is nothing extra. She seems to be looking at the story of the colonization of Australia over and over again, each time thinking it through with different outcomes for the characters whom you grow to care about. Both are very good books.