Book of the Month: A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

Our Book of the Month for July 2020 is A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, introduces her brilliant new novel, A Room Made of Leaves. Her first work of fiction in 10 years, this novel marks a return to the territory of The Secret River where historical fiction is turned inside out in a stunning sleight of hand by one of our most original writers. Check it out below:

More About A Room Made of Leaves

What if Elizabeth Macarthur’s letters and journals were a mask hiding her true experiences and emotions? What if the contemporary expectations of a gentlewoman prevented her from writing her truth to anyone but herself?

This is Kate Grenville’s starting point for this brilliant novel, a starting point encouraged by Elizabeth Macarthur’s recommendation not to believe too quickly. This exhortation is used as an epigraph, so it is directed at the reader too. We must think carefully about what to believe and what not to believe. A Room Made of Leaves, Kate Grenville tells us at the end, is neither history not pure invention. It is a reminder to question received truths about history, most especially about women and First Nations people. Perhaps Elizabeth thinks, what she thought of as trade was actually a lesson from the Burramattagal in how to do things properly, and how to act with grace, forgiveness and generosity.

Just as it straddles fact and fiction, A Room Made of Leaves is as much about the present and the future as it is about the past. We should be equally careful with regard to what we believe about what we are told of the present as we are about what we are told of the past.

But A Room Made of Leaves is not just a warning about the difficulties of truth and belief, or a lesson about history. It is an absorbing narrative of a woman’s changing self, of ambition and destiny, of learning and doing and being. It is about how a self can shift and change through life, how it is bound and freed through life’s stages.

Indeed the novel is so absorbing and feels so real, that it is easy to forget not to believe. It feels entirely believable

“Kate Grenville is a literary alchemist, turning the leaden shadow of the historical Elizabeth Macarthur into a luminescent, golden woman for our times. Intelligent, compassionate, strategic and dead sexy, Grenville’s Macarthur is an unforgettable character who makes us question everything we thought we knew about our colonial past. A polished gem of a novel by a writer who is as brave as she is insightful. I simply loved it.” - Clare Wright

About Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. 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. Grenville’s other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Dark Places and the Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection. Her most recent books are two works of non-fiction, One Life: My Mother’s Story and The Case Against Fragrance. She has also written three books about the writing process. In 2017 Grenville was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. She lives in Melbourne.

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