RaveThe Guardian (UK)How may we celebrate Elizabeth’s hard-won self-possession, however knowing or regretful, when it is conditional on the violent dispossession of others? It is a complicated balancing act, and feels somehow unresolved—even in a novel that embraces the idea that fiction’s job is to frame questions in new ways and invite engagement, not answer or settle them. But this does not detract from the stunning literary achievement of the novel. The story unfolds in small chapter-fragments, their short paragraphs packed with gorgeous descriptions of the Australian landscape...and compressed emotional power ... Most striking is the way Grenville makes images startlingly fresh that ought to be worn out with use.
