In 1806 William Thornhill an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion steals a load of wood and as a part of his lenient sentence is deported along with his beloved wife Sal to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small exotic corner of the new world and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world The Secret River is a magnificent transporting work of historical fiction.