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80th out of 239 books
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287 voters
The Lieutenant (Thornhill Family #2)
A stunning follow-up to her Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning book, The Secret River, Kate Grenville's The Lieutenant is a gripping story about friendship, self-discovery, and the power of language set along the unspoiled shores of 1788 New South Wales. As a boy, Daniel Rooke was always an outsider. Ridiculed in school and misunderstood by his parents, Daniel could only...more
Paperback, 307 pages
Published
February 5th 2009
by Canongate Books
(first published December 31st 2007)
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In this novel, Kate Grenville returns to the time and place which inspired her in The Secret River: the early days of the British colony in New South Wales. This time her central character, Daniel Rooke, is based on Lieutenant William Dawes, the First Fleet’s astronomer, who was also a skilled linguist, engineer and surveyor.
Grenville portrays Rooke as a brilliant but shy and socially awkward man: a mathematician, musician, linguist and astronomer, who becomes friends with a young girl from the...more
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Uncorrected proof edition, obtained from the nice people at Canongate, via the "First Reads" comp on the Goodreads.com website. Because it is a proof copy, any further reviews should heed the review request: "These proofs are uncorrected and that substantial changes may be made before this book is printed. If any material from the book is quoted in a review, please check it in the text of the final bound book"[return][return]Excellent book, starting with a brief detailing of the growing up of Da...more
Kate Grenville's latest book tells the story of Daniel Rooke, an astronomer with the First Fleet sent from England to bring convicts to Botany Bay and his interaction with the aboriginal people, and in particular with a young girl called Tagaran. It's based on the historical account of William Dawes, lieutenant and astronomer with that first expedition who had a similar friendship with a young aboriginal girl.
The character of Daniel Rooke is powerfully conceived and his story is immensely human...more
The character of Daniel Rooke is powerfully conceived and his story is immensely human...more
What a fantastic book weaving Australian history into a gripping novel. I quickly read The Secret River before this book, as I was told it was the better novel. I, however, loved the Lieutenant.I came to love it even more when I found out that Rooke (the main character) was actully modelled after a real person Lt. William Dawes, a British marine. As someone in my book club said he was obviously a man intelligent and empathetic way before his time.
Rooke is an outsider, an awkward child genius w...more
Rooke is an outsider, an awkward child genius w...more
The Lieutenant Kate Grenville
I went to the library looking for a different book by the author. Since The Lieutenant was the only Kate Grenville book on the shelves, I checked out this book. The Lieutenant’s name is Daniel Rooke. As a young lad Daniel was more interested in working with prime numbers than reciting the multiplication tables with the rest of the class. I appreciated that characteristic of Daniel.
Daniel Rooke was a solitary man and that served him well when he sailed with the First...more
I went to the library looking for a different book by the author. Since The Lieutenant was the only Kate Grenville book on the shelves, I checked out this book. The Lieutenant’s name is Daniel Rooke. As a young lad Daniel was more interested in working with prime numbers than reciting the multiplication tables with the rest of the class. I appreciated that characteristic of Daniel.
Daniel Rooke was a solitary man and that served him well when he sailed with the First...more
This story follows the life of Daniel Rooke. Touching on key points in his childhood, it focuses on his work as the astronomer with the First Fleet and its work in New South Wales. We see how, as a child, he was an outsider. He found a mentor and eventually a passion as an astronomer. Due to the lack of a job market for this profession, he joined the marines, and went to America before his trip to New South Wales.
Various things along the way influenced his interest and his character, but as he t...more
Various things along the way influenced his interest and his character, but as he t...more
This was another beautifully written tale of about the relationships between the British and Aboriginal people in New South Wales in the late 1700s. This story focusses on the earliest convict settlers and the relationship between an intelligent and thoughtful lieutenant and astronomer (Daniel Rookes) and his fellow millitary comrades and members of the local tribe (in particular with a young girl). I loved the Lieutenant's character and evolution from someone who shunned company and was sociall...more
Written in faultless prose, Kate Grenville's The Lieutenant takes us into the journey of one soul, Daniel Rooke, a mathematical and musical genius. He is also an astronomer of no mean talent. Unfortunately, jobs as an astronomer were mighty scarce in 18th century England. Because the American colonies were rebelling, however, there were jobs in the Royal Navy. Thus, this solitary genius became a military officer. I found myself thinking that had he been 18 in 1967, he would have been demonstrati...more
Kate Grenville’s latest novel, “The Lieutenant” is a beautifully crafted work. The Lieutenant in question, Daniel Rooke, is based on William Dawes, a soldier in His Majesty’s Marine Force on the First Fleet which arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788. Dawes accompanied the First Fleet as an astronomer, to record the predicted reappearance of a comet in late 1788/early 1789. The story is thus based on historical events: Grenville fills in the blanks of everyday life around these events in a way that mak...more
In late 18th century England, Daniel Rooke is a marine lieutenant who reluctantly goes to war for the Crown in the American Revolution. He was always a square peg, bullied by other boys in his youth. A generally solitary person, he studies math and music and gazes at the stars. His true calling is astronomy and linguistics, not fighting. Physically toughened by the violence he witnesses in the war, he continues to remain an outsider to the status quo. He seeks knowledge, unity, and connectedness...more
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4.5 stars. Kate Grenville's prose is so beautifully crafted that it feels effortless, and belies the enormous amount of research that surely underpins this novel. There is nothing 'literary' about it in the 'look at me I'm writing' sense, just simple and absorbing storytelling. Based on true accounts of first contact in the colony of New South Wales, she peoples the book with utterly believable characters, both decent and horribly flawed. Daniel Rooke and Tagaran (in history, William Dawes and P...more
Like all of Kate Grenville's books I very much enjoyed the Lieutenant. It was quietly pensive and reminded me very much of the Inheritors: one of my favourite books of all time.
It follows the story of a British Lieutenants difficulties in communication; not only within his own "tribe" but also (and more explicitly) with a "tribe" of aborigines in NSW. Full of the symbolism that I've come to expect from Grenville's writing, it was very enjoyable. I do have to wonder what kind of men KG associate...more
It follows the story of a British Lieutenants difficulties in communication; not only within his own "tribe" but also (and more explicitly) with a "tribe" of aborigines in NSW. Full of the symbolism that I've come to expect from Grenville's writing, it was very enjoyable. I do have to wonder what kind of men KG associate...more
Grenville presents a compelling story with The Lieutenant. I found this book because of my interest in early Australian history; the story is set in those days of first contact between the native people of what came to be Botany Bay and Sydney and the English -- a small party of guards, soldiers and officers, and transportees.
But the story begins first with a remarkable young boy, Daniel Rooke, an outcast because of his giftedness, his ability to know numbers. He becomes an astronomer, a major...more
But the story begins first with a remarkable young boy, Daniel Rooke, an outcast because of his giftedness, his ability to know numbers. He becomes an astronomer, a major...more
Close, very close, but no cigar. That's really what I think after finishing Kate Grenville's novel The Lieutenant. I liked the idea behind the book. I love her style of writing, but I don't know. There seems to be something that's just not there. So after finishing it, I feel a little bit let down.
The Lieutenant tells the story of a friendship between an English lieutenant who comes to the early colony in Australia and an Indigenous girl. In modern times we would call the guy a bit of a nerd, i...more
The Lieutenant tells the story of a friendship between an English lieutenant who comes to the early colony in Australia and an Indigenous girl. In modern times we would call the guy a bit of a nerd, i...more
Kate Grenville based her novel on the life of a real Marine officer, William Dawes, who laid the foundation for learning the Aboriginal language - his studies were the most comprehensive at the time, and his notes show the friendly relationship he had with a native girl. Dawes later fought for abolition of slavery in Antigua and died in poverty. Grenville writes this novel about him - as Daniel Rooke - with great affection, and subtlety.
This is a beautiful novel - sensitive, learned and heartbr...more
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Not a book I enjoyed. Personally I longed for this to be more of a 'human interest story' about relationships and less of a story, no matter how interesting, about astronomy and Daniel's unravelling of the native language.
Sectioned into what was effectively three parts I really struggled with the first part which dealt mainly with Daniel's childhood in England as it felt as if I wasn't reading a story so much as reading a list of notes the author had jotted down to remind herself of where she in...more
Sectioned into what was effectively three parts I really struggled with the first part which dealt mainly with Daniel's childhood in England as it felt as if I wasn't reading a story so much as reading a list of notes the author had jotted down to remind herself of where she in...more
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In 1787, young Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth on a ship loaded with prisoners, bound for New South Wales. An astronomer, the shy and quiet Rooke is given the freedom to establish a campsite some distance from the new colony where he can set up his telescope and record the events of the night skies. As the colony makes first contact with those who already inhabit the land, Rooke is visited at his isolated camp by a small group of Aborigines, and is drawn especially to a young g...more
Une expédition anglaise vers l’Australie, terre encore inexplorée, une colonisation, la rencontre difficile avec les natifs et un amour impossible… L’histoire peut sembler vue et revue, mais l’ouvrage de Kate Grenville n’en mérite pas moins d’être découvert selon moi : l’auteure a su exploiter son thème de façon très fouillée et intéressante. Son récit est centré sur Daniel Rooke dont on suit la vie, de son enfance à sa mort, avec une focalisation plus importante sur l’expédition en Nouvelle-Gal...more
This is the third novel I have read in recent months about naval expeditions in the 1700s. The first two - Darwin's Armada and The Sea Captain's Wife - focussed on commercial/ scientific interests and life at sea, as well as life in the countries of origin of these expeditions. The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville focusses instead on colonization and settlement efforts in "new Countries", in this case New south Wales in Australia.
Daniel Rooke, a quiet awkward but brilliant young man of limited means...more
Daniel Rooke, a quiet awkward but brilliant young man of limited means...more
Like The Secret River, I enjoyed this book very much. It is beautifully-written story about a lieutenant in the British Marines, who is also an astronomer, Daniel Rooke. He is sent to New South Wales with the first fleet of convicts to establish the penal colony, but he was assigned a special task to observe the heavenly bodies to spot a comet predicted to be visible across the Southern hemisphere that year. During the course of his duty, Rooke came in contact with the mysterious dark-skinned na...more
A really interesting look at one of the first British 'settlements' in New South Wales (aka, Australia) as seen from the perspective of a would be astronomer with at best questionable allegiance to the king and army.
While the new governor and other officials are busy kidnapping natives to learn their language all while treating them well so they spread the word (ironic because they kidnap them first, lol!), Our would be astronomer seems to live in his own world of solitude in his own hut away f...more
While the new governor and other officials are busy kidnapping natives to learn their language all while treating them well so they spread the word (ironic because they kidnap them first, lol!), Our would be astronomer seems to live in his own world of solitude in his own hut away f...more
I loved this book and am jealous of Grenville’s writing. The story, told simply, flowed along and was satisfyingly rounded with a ‘proper’ story arc. No clever tricks, just good prose with strong imagery. I fully believed in Grenville’s Australian landscape and the characters in the story.
I liked the way Grenville wears her well researched historical facts lightly. She weaves a highly believable tale from the diaries of William Dawes and the incident where officers are sent to bring back the hea...more
I liked the way Grenville wears her well researched historical facts lightly. She weaves a highly believable tale from the diaries of William Dawes and the incident where officers are sent to bring back the hea...more
Normally I don't choose historical fiction, but read this wonderful book because of my love for Kate Grenville's award-winning Secret River. Her passion for her native New South Wales and curiosity about its history presents a blank canvas for most American readers, a fresh perspective on the colonization process itself. At first, I felt the lead character of Daniel Rooke to be too good to be true, until I read in the author's note that he is based on an actual person who was an astronomer and w...more
A military force from a technologically advanced culture moves to a land inhabited by naked, spear-throwing people. One of the soldiers studies the language, and is accepted as a friend by some of the inhabitants. This same soldier is ordered to take part in an attack on the village, and struggles with the conflict between his love of the people and his duty.
Am I talking about the new James Cameron movie, Avatar? No. Set in Australia in 1788, The Lieutenant, by Kate Grenville, follows the fictio...more
Am I talking about the new James Cameron movie, Avatar? No. Set in Australia in 1788, The Lieutenant, by Kate Grenville, follows the fictio...more
Jan 05, 2012
Helen Lowe
added it
You may have noticed from my 'library' of listed books (so far--there are many more titles therein, but I thought I'd mainly focus on SFF initially, and even that listing is far from complete yet!) that I read a lot of speculative fiction—which is partly because I like it and partly because it’s something of an occupational hazard when you’re a speculative fiction author oneself: there’s the need to keep up with what’s new and with all the award lists. And then there are the interviews with othe...more
Based on true story of an astronomer with the British Navy who goes with a contingent to New South Wales Australia in 1768. He befriends a group of Aboriginal children and women who visit him at his hut on the edge of the settlement. An intellectual, with compassion, and a great curiosity, Lieutenant Daniel Rooke sets out to learn the aboriginal language and document it. He has a strong friendship with a girl who's quick intelligence enables them to begin to understand each other. As the British...more
This book was a bit of a grower. Slowly but surely it drew you into the world of Daniel Rooke, a socially inept but brilliant astrologer and navigator. Daniel Rooke finds himself on a voyage to New South Wales, where he promptly distances himself from the rest of the settlers and finds himself on the peripheral of society. You get the feeling that this is not marked by physical distance so much as emotional distance.
The book is about Rooke's developing relationship with the natives, in particul...more
The book is about Rooke's developing relationship with the natives, in particul...more
People have outlined the plot elsewhere. Suffice it to say I was deeply touched by the relationship between Rooke and his young Aboriginal friend, and their efforts to communicate, and learn one another's languages. I know from other books that life in the penal colony in New South Wales was incredibly harsh. This was just vaguely hinted at in this book. It did contain one passage that dealt with extreme violence, which I hate, so I skipped it. I didn't lose any sense of the narrative in doing s...more
This novel is quite unusual and I was enthralled by it.
The title character, a young man with what might now be diagnosed as autism, trains as an astronomer and joins the navy. He is sent to Australia where he sets up an observatory.
Some aborigines befriend him and he forges a bond with a bright young aboriginal girl as they learn each other’s languages. Language, learning and the stars form the backdrop of this unlikely friendship.
The more I read,the more I was inspired and moved. The lieutenant...more
The title character, a young man with what might now be diagnosed as autism, trains as an astronomer and joins the navy. He is sent to Australia where he sets up an observatory.
Some aborigines befriend him and he forges a bond with a bright young aboriginal girl as they learn each other’s languages. Language, learning and the stars form the backdrop of this unlikely friendship.
The more I read,the more I was inspired and moved. The lieutenant...more
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| What Katey did | 1 | 10 | Sep 26, 2008 06:09pm |
Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published eight books of fiction and four books about the writing process. Her best-known works are the international best-seller The Secret River, The Idea of Perfection, The Lieutenant and Lilian's Story (details about all Kate Grenville's books are elsewhere on this site). Her novels have won many awards both in Australia and the UK...more
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“What an astonishing thing, that her praise filled his heart.”
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“Everything in his life had come down to the sensation of her fingers against his. The person he was, the history he carried within himself, every joy and grief he had ever experienced, slipped way like an irrelevant garment. He was nothing but skin, speaking to another skin, and between the skins there was no need to find any words.”
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