In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal's deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William's gradual realization that if he wants to make a home...

"From the National Book Award-winning author of Arctic Dreams and Of Wolves and Men, an epic, revelatory work that recollects the travels around the world and the encounters--human, animal, and natural--that have shaped an extraordinary life. Taking us nearly from pole to pole--and across decades of lived experience--Barry Lopez gives us his most far-ranging yet personal work to date, in a book that moves through six regions of the world: from western...