Rummaging around in the archives one afternoon, Kate Grenville comes across an innocuous-looking file full of letters about a schoolteacher in country New South Wales. Intrigued, she keeps reading – and discovers a tale far more curious and complex than first appears. Was Joseph Connor savagely beating the students in his care? Or was he the victim of a small-town vendetta? And what went so terribly wrong between him and his daughter?
Ultimately, Grenville simply has to know: was Connor a victim or a villain? Part colonial cold case, part locked-room mystery, part the dance of a writer’s imagination among facts and semi-facts, The Country Schoolmaster is a book like no other. In it, the novelist comes to understand the seductive pleasure of story-making, but also its dangerous limitations.
Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville’s other novels include The Lieutenant, Lilian’s Story, the Orange Prize–winner The Idea of Perfection and A Room Made of Leaves. Her works of non-fiction include One Life: My Mother’s Story, Elizabeth Macarthur’s Letters and, most recently, Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place.
Amy Sambrooke was Creative Director of Varuna the National Writers’ House from 2017 to 2023, and Artistic Director of the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival from 2019 to 2023. Subsequently, Amy rejoined Varuna to lead the development of an extensive range of professional development programs for emerging and mid-career writers, and is now Learning & Development Manager at Varuna, as well as a sessional academic at UNSW. Amy frequently hosts in-conversation sessions for festivals and other events, and has over 20 years’ experience working with organisations across the arts, media, heritage, education and public policy.
Bookings essential – either through Trybooking or directly at the Blackheath shop.
