A Great Act of Love

A young woman boards a ship bound for a colony on the far side of the earth. To those on board she is a pious, grieving widow, someone with enough coin to invest in the goods the captain carries, but who keeps to herself and shares little of her past. The other passengers cannot know that Caroline is following her convict father, that she has made her money from nefarious schemes, nor that she has a family connection to French royalty.

When she arrives in Van Diemen’s Land, she is no longer alone, having taken on a young ship’s boy as her ward. The pair find themselves accommodation and Caroline begins work as governess to the younger children of Captain Swanston, soon to be her landlord. Their new home includes a vineyard, a twist surely put into play by the gods of fate, as Caroline’s father once made champagne. After the French revolution, he ran an apothecary, and educated his daughters in various sciences, now enabling this determined young woman to bring these vines back to life. As she creates a new beginning for herself and the adopted family around her, amid the beauty and harshness of colonial Australia, Caroline finds her place, a home, and, finally, happiness.

Heather Rose says at the start of this novel that it is one based on several true stories, and knowing that someone as brave, determined, and brilliant as Caroline really did exist makes her narrative even more moving. Rose has always been just as brave and determined and brilliant in her writing, moving easily from literary award winner The Museum of Modern Love to the political thriller Bruny and now to the past, with all of its complexity and absences. This is a heroic tale from one of my very favourite authors.