I've not long finished reading Kate Grenville's "The Secret River" and can recommend it as a wonderful, even riveting read. It is of course an historical novel set in part, on the Hawkesbury River. I really felt her connection with the river. Kate Grenville saw it as a living thing; part of an ancient landscape. Her story tells of the not-so-easy life of our early settlers; some rouges and scoundrels, others mesmerised by opportunities. It also tells of the fate of some of our original inhabitants, but I won't spoil the story for you. It does make you want to do a bit of work tracing your own family history though!
