
In Australia, Will is assigned to Sal so it's not so hard. He is able to go back to working on boats and when he goes up the Hawkesbury River, he is surprised to find beautiful land that he falls in love with. He convinces Sal to move there with him and give it a shot for five years. But they quickly find out that while the wilderness looks deserted, it is anything but.
I was at first expecting a more traditional homesteading story, but the struggle with the aborigines went to a very dark place. There was a moment, 50 pages from the end, when I paused and really wondered where the story was going. I don't remember the last time an ending was set up so well. I could clearly see that the situation was coming to a head, there were multiple potential outcomes, but I really wasn't sure which one it was going to be. I just couldn't put the book down in those last pages.
This book is based on the author's ancestor, so I assume that what happened in the end actually happened. But it does make for a good story. The book uses a few conventions I'm not a fan of - the dialogue is set in italics instead of in quotation marks, and there is very little of it - but it's written so well that I barely noticed. The book is dark and yet hopeful, and really brought the Australian bush to life.
I borrowed this book from a friend.
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