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Promised Lands
The year is 1788, the place New South Wales. Marine Lieutenant William Dawes has arrived in the Antipodes to build an observatory, reform the convicts and understand the Aborigines. He is a good man who will be subject to many temptations. In England, now, a child is born. His mother knows he has extraordinary powers; his father knows he is a helpless cripple. Olla, defending and nurturing her miraculous son, emerges as one of the strangest and most compelling characters of contemporary fiction. Jane Rogers intertwines the powerful dramas of the first year of the convict-colony with these present-day lives to make a rich and gripping novel.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1997
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About the author
Jane Rogers
73 books73 followersJane Rogers is an award winning author of nine novels, including The Testament of Jessie Lamb, Man-Booker longlisted and winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award 2012.
Other works include Mr Wroe's Virgins (which she dramatised for the BAFTA-nominated BBC drama series), Her Living Image (Somerset Maugham Award) and Promised Lands (Writers Guild Best Fiction Award). Her story collection Hitting Trees with Sticks was shortlisted for the 2013 Edgehill Award, and the title story was a BBC National Short story award winner.
Jane is Emerita Professor of Writing and also writes radio dramas and adaptations. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and lives in Banbury, UK.
www.janerogers.info
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 30, 2022
A book of two parts, interwoven. One is a traditionally written historical novel set in the late 1700s which is a third person viewpoint of a man, William Dawes, who is apparently an actual historical person. He served in the Royal Marines and was employed as a surveyor and overseer of convicts working in a British colony in Australia which eventually became the city of Sydney, but his real passion was astronomy. He is dissatisfied with his position, forced to obey orders of the capricious governor who presides over the gradual extermination of the native population of the area by a combination of smallpox - which William is unable to prove was deliberately spread among them and to which the Europeans were immune thanks to immunisation - and the destruction of habitat and overfishing, which wiped out their foodsupply. Any attempt he makes to stand out against these orders on the basis of conscience is condemned even by the clergyman as being due to the sin of pride: of thinking himself better than anyone else. He is tormented by guilt over sexuality, as he is attracted to one of the women convicts, and troubled by friendship with another marine who he discovers is homosexual which in those days would be a hanging offence.
The other part of the story is made up of the interwoven first person narratives of a woman called Olla who originates from somewhere in eastern Europe in the (present day at the time of publication) 1980s and the man she has married, Stephen. They have a total disassociation of viewpoints. Olla has known a lot of hardship, including an abusive home with a drunken father and a brother with breathing problems who she had to try to protect. Stephen is from a privileged middle class background but has become what was known at the time as a 'lefty' with Marxist views etc, which eventually lead him to disaster when he and another man try to run a school along egalitarian lines. The marriage undergoes total breakdown when they have a son who to everyone else is disabled but who Olla believes is a latent genius and messiah.
The historical part of the book was interesting but the 'present day' narrative didn't appeal and seemed a bit too self-consciously literary and a way of avoiding writing a true historical, which at the time of publication was a genre mostly out of favour and only rehabilitated by combining it with mysteries as in the Cadfael novels. The author wrote a much better true historical novel, 'Mr Wroe's Virgins', so I had expected better and really can only award this a 2 star 'OK' rating and that on the basis of the 18th century component.
The other part of the story is made up of the interwoven first person narratives of a woman called Olla who originates from somewhere in eastern Europe in the (present day at the time of publication) 1980s and the man she has married, Stephen. They have a total disassociation of viewpoints. Olla has known a lot of hardship, including an abusive home with a drunken father and a brother with breathing problems who she had to try to protect. Stephen is from a privileged middle class background but has become what was known at the time as a 'lefty' with Marxist views etc, which eventually lead him to disaster when he and another man try to run a school along egalitarian lines. The marriage undergoes total breakdown when they have a son who to everyone else is disabled but who Olla believes is a latent genius and messiah.
The historical part of the book was interesting but the 'present day' narrative didn't appeal and seemed a bit too self-consciously literary and a way of avoiding writing a true historical, which at the time of publication was a genre mostly out of favour and only rehabilitated by combining it with mysteries as in the Cadfael novels. The author wrote a much better true historical novel, 'Mr Wroe's Virgins', so I had expected better and really can only award this a 2 star 'OK' rating and that on the basis of the 18th century component.
August 17, 2016
This kept reminding of Keneally's "The Playmaker" (later used as the basis for the play Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker). The obvious parallel is that all are set in Botany Bay/ Sydney late 18th century and chart the arrival of the First fleet from England and the start of the new colony with many of the same characters based on historical records. This book focusses on William Dawes who role is to build the Observatory for the Board of Longitude and chart the southern hemisphere sky, but he is kept diverted by the Governor (Philip) more as chief surveyor.
Keneally's book focusses on Ralph Clark and his attempt to put on a play - The Recruiting Officer. Both books cover the interactions between the convicts, soldiers, officers and natives and address many key issues such as religions, conscience, societal structures, sexuality, through the prism of a small society cut off from the world and having to survive.
Jane Rogers also interweaves a present day text of Stephen and Olla, a couple in the 1980's who have a "disabled" baby Daniel. Olla sees him as a genius, Stephen is estranged and kept from him by Olla, Stephen resorts to writing his book about Botany Bay and William Dawes.
All the characters have their doubts but are each seeking their Promised Land.
It's an excellent book which is worth finding and reading, doesn't deserve the relative obscurity it now has.
Keneally's book focusses on Ralph Clark and his attempt to put on a play - The Recruiting Officer. Both books cover the interactions between the convicts, soldiers, officers and natives and address many key issues such as religions, conscience, societal structures, sexuality, through the prism of a small society cut off from the world and having to survive.
Jane Rogers also interweaves a present day text of Stephen and Olla, a couple in the 1980's who have a "disabled" baby Daniel. Olla sees him as a genius, Stephen is estranged and kept from him by Olla, Stephen resorts to writing his book about Botany Bay and William Dawes.
All the characters have their doubts but are each seeking their Promised Land.
It's an excellent book which is worth finding and reading, doesn't deserve the relative obscurity it now has.
August 16, 2015
thoughtful. good.
October 17, 2021
This novel is like two books in one, following the first European settlers on Australian soil and a modern-day couple with a disabled child. I didn't like any of the characters nor their point of view. They were boring and their behavior made no sense. There was also no correlation between the two stories. I give it two stars only because the topic of convicts as the first European settlers and Aborigines interests me.
January 1, 2021
Really enjoyed the story based in Australia but the modern day world story running alongside was boring so I ended up skipping all of that which was easy to do. Had the whole book been based in Australia in the 1700s then I would have given it 4stars
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July 30, 2011An ambitious weaving of two periods in time into one narrative. On one hand there is the story of the settlement of Australia at the end of the 18th century, including the destruction of aborigines by smallpox, the difficulties of convict labor, and the idealism and cynicism of the British. On the other hand there is the story of a Stephen, schoolteacher who is trying to write the story of William Dawes, an idealistic officer and astronomer who helped in the colonization of Australia, while questioning its methods. Stephen's wife, Olla, is totally involved in the care of their special needs child, whom she is convinced is destined to save the world. All these stories interpenetrate, and finally are torn apart. Rogers is a skillful writer, and she keeps both of her threads spinning beautifully.
August 6, 2013
Most people say that this is a novel of two tales but. really, it is three: William, Stephen and Olla. Each is as detailed and intense as the other whilst still managing to remain relevant to the overall themes of the book. For me, the main message that emerges out of this text is that the goal of a Promised Land (a place that we want to be, a place where we belong) is a constant through Life. However, it is variable in the sense that it takes on a different form for every individual.
August 13, 2009
Deals with BIG issues. Some are the same as in Poisonwood Bible. But they're dealt with more subtly here, with more complex characters.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews