Grenville’s other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Dark Places and the Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection. Kate Grenville's first novel in nearly a decade starts with a warning from her pioneering heroine Elizabeth Macarthur: "Do not believe too quickly!". Written history has much to say about John, the ignoble man whose ambitions for power and status were matched only by his general detestability, but all that survives of Elizabeth are a precious few politely-written letters. "It is why I write them. A Room Made of Leaves draws on Mrs Macarthur's real letters but looks to their gaps; finding what is left unsaid far more revealing than what is said. Kate Grenville will be a keynote speaker for the Melbourne Writers Festival. As Mr Macarthur has found his place in national mythology as the "father of the wool industry", the key insight we have into Mrs Macarthur comes from the seemingly mundane letters she sent to her family and friends. Kate Grenville returns with a much-anticipated fourth novel considering Australia’s colonial past, and interactions between Australia’s First Nations peoples and colonists. "That whole notion that there is a certain narrative there that we have all come to accept as the status quo ... it's time to shake that up. The novel takes the guise of the imagined secret memoir of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of British officer-turned-wool-baron of early colonial Sydney, John Macarthur. Through Dawes, Elizabeth experiences things she has never known, and, also through Dawes, meets several of the local First Nations people for the first time. I cannot know how people are going to read them and it's not always complimentary. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes, has been adapted for the stage and as an acclaimed television miniseries, and is now a much-loved classic. Often described as the father of the wool industry in Australia, the Macarthur here is an ambitious and brutish bully. Kate Grenville returns with a much-anticipated fourth novel considering Australia’s colonial past, and interactions between Australia’s First Nations peoples and colonists. —A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (Text Publishing) is out now. Grenville consulted with many of the same groups for both novels, including the Darug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation and the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. It’s been years since Kate Grenville has published a new novel and in that time her star has risen with the popularity of her Secret River trilogy. Grenville says she isn't perturbed by the level of scrutiny that has surrounded her novels, particularly The Secret River, or the way they have entered public and academic discourse and debate. "I blush at my error," Mrs Macarthur wrote. Elizabeth subtly pushes back, cultivating her own friendships in the colony and establishing a weekly salon, which she hosts. Of course, the appropriation of First Nations peoples’ land and the displacement of the local population hangs like a heavy cloud in the time of Grenville’s novel, as it does still today. An ingenious tapestry of history and invention, A Room Made of Leaves is a novel of womanhood, motherhood, secrets, lies, obsession, transformation and the loss of innocence. But in the world of Grenville's novel, Mrs Macarthur finally gets to lay a few things down on the historical record. I'm hoping they will see this book as part of a very contemporary conversation.". Kate Grenville's first novel in a decade reinvents her pioneering heroine. The Elizabeth of Kate Grenville’s imagination is nowhere near so polite. STAGE 4 UPDATE: We're open for online orders & phone orders. "The pandemic has made people think big picture. Dawes is a recluse who lives on a headland at the edge of the settlement and is a mathematical prodigy, fluent in Latin and Greek, and a great botanist. Readers are taken on a journey from Elizabeth’s humble beginnings in rural England to her unlikely marriage to the brutish Macarthur, her new beginning as one of very few “ladies” in the new colony of New South Wales, and her eventual success as the true pastoralist that commanded the massive expanse of the convict-run Elizabeth Farm at Parramatta. For more information visit mwf.com.au. Kate Grenville will be a keynote speaker for the Melbourne Writers Festival. For a while, the phrase was the working title of Grenville's 16th book. She finds satisfaction in her world by acting outside of her power-mad husband’s knowledge. Celebrate Crime Month with these 5 must-reads! Elizabeth asks Tench to see if Dawes will give her some lessons. As The Secret River builds up to a horrific moment of white-settler violence against Indigenous Australians, so too does A Room Made of Leaves. The story is framed by a fictional preface, written by the "transcriber and editor" Kate Grenville. The novel takes the guise of the imagined secret memoir of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of British officer-turned-wool-baron of early colonial Sydney, John Macarthur. Click here for more info, Australian Book Retailer of the Year 2020. It was while researching that novel, nearly two decades ago, that Grenville first had the idea for A Room Made of Leaves. For more information visit mwf.com.au When I read those five words – I blush at my error – this sort of abstract silhouette of a woman, this distant, half-seen woman suddenly sprang to life.". Meanwhile, Macarthur schemes and feuds in his efforts to gain power and fortune, finally managing to secure one hundred acres of land in Parramatta to settle upon and farm. And the quartet might become a quintet in time. As a result, at least certainly The Secret River, it can be controversial and that is just something I have to welcome and I do.". Did she – wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in early Sydney – write what Grenville’s publishers call ‘a shockingly frank secret memoir’? This novel, Grenville says, is "the truth that she couldn't ever risk putting on paper". Macarthur is so erratic that it is Elizabeth who steers the venture to its success and influence; it is Elizabeth and her story that shine. Your email address will not be published. That's the starting point for A Room Made of Leaves, a playful dance of possibilities between the real and the invented. It's time to shake up what we think about our colonial past and in particular our unfinished businesses with First Nations.". In the real world, Mrs Macarthur has always remained a mysterious figure. Great insights into an iconic time, not long after the squatters effectively took Australia’s best lands with millions of sheep in only years. This story, told through Grenville’s sharp lens, is one that will stay with the reader for a long time. Required fields are marked *. Kate Grenville (Photo by Darren James). A Room Made of Leaves, in its gorgeous green hardcover jacket, is arguably one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year. She stumbled upon a note that Mrs Macarthur wrote about her lack of ability after she took lessons in astronomy with another famous early settler, William Dawes. A Room Made of Leaves is published by Text at $39.99. The bestselling novel, which has been turned into a television series and play, was based on her family story and is about transported convict William Thornhill's life on the colonial frontier. A Room Made of Leaves is a nesting doll of fact and fiction as it tells the story of Mrs Macarthur, who arrived in the fledgling penal colony of Sydney Town in 1790. It remains as an epigraph, an apt harbinger of what's to come. Kate Grenville’s new novel, her first in almost a decade, is dedicated to ‘all those whose stories have been silenced’, for which, as its ‘memoirist’–narrator heroine is Elizabeth Macarthur, we might read ‘women’. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email address will not be published. This Kate Grenville has discovered the "long-lost secret memoirs" of the enigmatic Mrs Macarthur, wife of the famous wool mogul John Macarthur, in a tin box in a roof cavity in Elizabeth Farm in Rosehill in Sydney's west. A Room Made of Leaves, she says, is just as much about the present as the past. Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25. It’s a true pleasure to read Grenville’s writing, and this one’s been well worth the wait! Macarthur has no real affection for his wife; she is just a prized chattel that completes his position in the small community. In return, he tells her about William Dawes, the colony’s astronomer and engineer. While Grenville won't be able to tour with A Room Made of Leaves due to coronavirus restrictions, she believes there exists a revived hunger for books and ideas. A Room Made of Leaves, in its gorgeous green hardcover jacket, is arguably one of the most hotly anticipated books of the year. They are wisely cast in severe contrast to the violent episode of the so-called “Battle of Parramatta” that occurs in later chapters. Oliver Jackson-Cohen as ex-convict Will Thornhill, and Sarah Snook as his wife, Sal, in the mini-series of The Secret River. Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. A lot of my books are set in the past but they are all about today's puzzles," she says. Was there perhaps something far more than the stars being explored between the pair? While Grenville could not have predicted the cultural reckoning triggered by the Black Lives Matter protests, she says the need to interrogate the stories we tell, how we tell them and who tells them was always in the "climate of her mind" while she wrote.

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