Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Friday in which you share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.
I’m currently reading Searching for The Secret River by Kate Grenville. It begins:
In the puritan Australia of my childhood, you could only get a drink on a Sunday if you were a ‘bona fide traveller’. That meant you had to have travelled fifty miles or more. Around Sydney a ring of townships at exactly the fifty-mile mark filled with cheerful people every Sunday. One of them was a little place called Wiseman’s Ferry.
I loved Kate Grenville’s book The Secret River, so when I discovered that she had written a book about how she came to write it I just had to get a copy. Her interest began with her great-great-great grandfather, Solomon Wiseman,the original ferryman at Wiseman’s Ferry. Her mother had told her stories about him, but she wanted to know more about, what he was like and what he might have done when he first encountered Aboriginal people … she needed to know.
I haven’t finished the book yet, but it is fascinating – seeing how she went about her research into family history and how she imagined his life from facts gleaned from the records and the places he had lived.
BooksPlease 
I have never read The Secret River but now I want to! Followed by Searching for The Secret River. They both sound wonderful. Have a great weekend!
Happy Reading,
Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate
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This sounds like an intriguing tale…love the idea of traveling on Sunday in order to get drinks…lol.
Here’s MY FRIDAY MEMES POST
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This sounds so interesting. I love family stories like this. Thanks for sharing!
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Sounds like a really interesting book. I haven’t read an Australian book since A Town Like Alice, and I am definitely due. I love the 50-mile town bit. 🙂
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Margaret – I enjoyed The Secret River very much, and I’ve been wanting to read the follow-up novel too. This one sounds like a perfect rounding-out of that saga. Thanks for sharing it and I hope you continue to enjoy it.
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Now you’ve piqued my interest and I’ve put both books on my long, long list.
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I love this book beginning; it reads like fiction (a sad fiction where you can only get a drink if you’ve traveled a long way) – but I’m definitely going to look this one up!
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It sounds lovely to be able to read about the background to a story you enjoyed. I hope you continue to find it interesting. Thanks for commenting on my blog too.
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