The Lieutenant

Author(s): Kate Grenville

Adult Fiction | Historical Fiction

In 1787 Lieutenant Daniel Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world.


After the fleet arrives in Port Jackson, Rooke sets up camp on a rocky and isolated point, and starts his work of astronomy and navigation. It's not too long before some of the Aboriginal people who live around the harbour pay him a visit. One of them, a girl named Tagaran, starts to teach him her own language. But her lessons and their friendship are interrupted when Rooke is given an order that will change his life forever.


Inspired by the 1790 notebooks of William Dawes in which he recorded his conversations with a young Gadigal woman, The Lieutenant is a story about a man discovering his true self in extraordinary circumstances.


Product Information

Teacher's Resources

Winner of Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature 2017 (Australia).

Kate Grenville's works include Lilian's Story, Dark Places, Joan Makes History, The Idea of Perfection (winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction), and The Secret River (winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the NSW Premier's Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize).

General Fields

  • : 9781921656767
  • : The Text Publishing Company
  • : Text Publishing
  • : 0.242
  • : October 2010
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Kate Grenville
  • : Paperback
  • : 823.3