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The
2005 Award
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The Colour by Rose Tremain
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Nominated by:
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| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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| 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. Beautifully
written, hauntingly evocative, and by turns both moving and terrifying,
The Colour is the story of a quest for the impossible, an attempt
to mine the complexities of love and in the process discover what it is
that makes men and women happy. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Rose Tremain is the author of nine novels, including The Way I Found Her and Music & Silence. Her work has been translated into fourteen languages. She lives in Norfolk, England, with the biographer Richard Holmes. |
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