A Room Made of Leaves

 

Attentive followers will have noticed that I've been on a bit of a Kate Grenville binge lately -- I intended to have a break after Restless Dolly Maunder, but then I came across this beautiful hardcover copy of A Room Made of Leaves in Savers, and it was too much of a bargain to ignore.

A Room Made of Leaves sees Grenville return to the early years of Australian settlement, this time through the eyes of Elizabeth Macarthur, and to one of her favourite subjects, the hidden history of women's experience. In Grenville's telling (historically plausible), Elizabeth is an intelligent, sensitive woman, shackled to an overbearing, quarrelsome and selfish husband who needs to be carefully managed. Grenville quotes from Elizabeth's actual letters, but puts her own ironic spin on the words, and she also softens Elizabeth's attitude to the First Nations people her successful sheep farm displaced. 

I really enjoyed A Room Made of Leaves. It's beautifully readable and vivid, and the portraits of John and Elizabeth Macarthur are compelling. Grenville allows herself to show a secret side to William Dawes, who was the subject of her earlier novel The Lieutenant -- not supported by historical evidence!