the_colour_tremain
2005 Longlist

The Colour

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

When newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from England, along with Joseph’s mother, Lilian, they are in search of prosperous new beginnings.. But they are ill-prepared for the obstacles they must face, and the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. A difficult first winter exacerbates the growing tension between husband and wife, and strengthens Lilian’s determination to return to England and leave this strange and unforgiving new country behind.
Then Joseph finds gold in the creek, behind their small farm, and, possessed by the promise of riches awaiting him deep in the earth, he hides his discovery from both his wife and mother. When the creek fails to fulfil his hopes, he sets off alone for the new goldfields over the Southern Alps, joining the hundreds of others who are under the seductive spell of “the colour,” the miners slang for this elusive mineral.
Harriet struggles to manage the farm alone, but eventually decides to follow her husband to the gold diggings. On her own journey westward, she makes a startling discovery that illuminates the emptiness of her marriage at the same time that it holds the tantalising promise of a future she could never have imagined. Amid squalor and confusion, burning heat and icy flood, Harriet comes face-to-face with the true cost of desire.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Rose
Tremain

Rose Tremain’s prize-winning books, including The Road Home, The Gustav Sonata, Merivel, and The American Lover, have been published in thirty countries. Chancellor of the University of East Anglia, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and member of the Royal Society of Literature, she lives in Norfolk, England with the biographer Richard Holmes.

Rose Tremain’s prize-winning books, including The Road Home, The Gustav Sonata, Merivel, and The American Lover, have been published in thirty countries. Chancellor of the University of East Anglia, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and member of the Royal Society of Literature, she lives in Norfolk, England with the biographer Richard Holmes.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
27/01/2025
Country
England
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
Farrar

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