A Room Made of Leaves

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A Room Made of Leaves
A Room Made of Leaves.jpg
Author Kate Grenville
LanguageEnglish
GenreLiterary novel
Publisher Text Publishing
Publication date
2 July 2020
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint
Pages352 pp.
Awards2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, winner
ISBN 9781922330024

A Room Made of Leaves is a 2020 novel by the Australian author Kate Grenville, originally published by Text Publishing. [1]

Contents

It was the winner of the 2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction. [2]

Synopsis

This novel tells the story of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of John Macarthur, a wealthy and corrupt early pioneer of Australia's wool industry. Genville uses the trope of imagining she has found a long lost memoir of Elizabeth's, upon which she bases her book.

Critical reception

Writing in The Guardian Kirsten Tranter called the novel a "stunning literary achievement", and went on to note: "Most striking is the way Grenville makes images startlingly fresh that ought to be worn out with use. She turns inside-out the conventional emblem of birdsong as heartfelt expression, making it expressive only of tragic limitation: as a newly married, unhappy wife, Elizabeth hears a bird that sings 'a lovely song' at dawn." [3]

In Australian Book Review Don Anderson notes that Grenville hints at a possible adulterous relationship between Elizabeth Macarthur and botanist William Dawes, and wonders if it is "ethical for a novelist to do what Grenville does and impute such details into the private lives of historical personages?" [4]

Publication history

The novel was also translated into Italian and German in 2021. [5]

Awards

Notes

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (Text)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  2. 1 2 "NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Tranter, Kirsten (30 July 2020). ""A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville review – the untold story of an unruly woman"". The Guardian. The Guardian, 31 July 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  4. ↑ ""A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville"". Australian Book Review, September 2020. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 "Austlit — A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville". Austlit. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  6. ↑ ""Age Book of the Year 2021 shortlist announced"". Books+Publishing, 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  7. ↑ "Awards: Walter Scott Shortlist; PEN America Literary". Shelf Awareness. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
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