100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders 🚀

A Room Made of Leaves

3.85 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 10,155 ratings, 1,011 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville is a captivating historical fiction novel that imagines the life of Elizabeth Macarthur, the wife of a notorious figure in colonial Australia. Through discovery and personal letters, the story delves into a world of ambition and survival, exploring the untold, inner strength and influence of a remarkable woman in a time of societal challenges and gender constraints.
Read More
Format: Hardback
$4400
Elsewhere:
$4800
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This historical fiction novel may appeal to you if you enjoy stories that delve into little-known aspects of colonial history with a twist of imaginative storytelling. It's perfect for readers who appreciate a rich blend of fact and fiction, particularly those interested in the personal challenges and hidden strengths of women navigating a changing world.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The first new novel in almost ten years from award-winning, best-selling author Kate Grenville.

The first new novel in almost ten years from award-winning, bestselling author Kate Grenville.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The first new novel in almost ten years from award-winning, bestselling author Kate Grenville.

What if Elizabeth Macarthur—wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in the earliest days of Sydney—had written a shockingly frank secret memoir? And what if novelist Kate Grenville had miraculously found and published it? That's the starting point for A Room Made of Leaves, a playful dance of possibilities between the real and the invented.

Marriage to a ruthless bully, the impulses of her heart, the search for power in a society that gave women none—this Elizabeth Macarthur manages her complicated life with spirit and passion, cunning and sly wit. Her memoir lets us hear—at last!—what one of those seemingly demure women from history might really have thought.

At the centre of A Room Made of Leaves is one of the most toxic issues of our own age—the seductive appeal of false stories. This book may be set in the past, but it's just as much about the present, where secrets and lies have the dangerous power to shape reality.

Kate Grenville's return to the territory of The Secret River is historical fiction turned inside out, a stunning sleight of hand by one of our most original writers.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Kate Grenville's A Room Made of Leaves has been widely praised for its imaginative reimagining of Australian colonial history through the eyes of Elizabeth Macarthur. The novel is lauded for its elegant prose, vivid portrayal of the Australian bush, and the fusion of fact and fiction, which keeps readers engaged. Critics have celebrated Grenville's ability to make historical figures feel relatable while questioning historical narratives, providing a rich and thought-provoking experience. The story explores themes of womanhood, truth, and the complexities of history, resonating particularly well in the contemporary context.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781922330024

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 02 July 2020

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 161.0mm

Height: 240.0mm

Weight: 593g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's most celebrated writers. Her international bestseller The Secret River was awarded local and overseas prizes, has been adapted for the stage and as an acclaimed television miniseries, and is now a much-loved classic. Grenville's other novels include Sarah Thornhill, The Lieutenant, Dark Places and the Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection. Her most recent books are two works of non-fiction, One Life- My Mother's Story and The Case Against Fragrance. She has also written three books about the writing process. In 2017 Grenville was awarded the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

Also by Kate Grenville

View all
  • The Case Against Fragrance
    A beautifully written, clear-eyed investigation of the science of scent and the power of the fragrance industry, from one of Australia's greatest writers. Kate Grenville had always associated perfume with elegance and beauty. Then the headaches started. Like perhaps a quarter of the population, Grenville reacts badly to the artificial fragrances around us—other people's perfumes, and all those scented cosmetics,...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Unsettled
    What does it mean to be on land taken from others? What does it mean to be on land that was taken from other people? Now that we know how the taking was done, what do we do with that knowledge? Kate Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded when she published...
    Paperback
    $4100
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters
    Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters by Kate Grenville is a captivating collection, serving as the inspiration for her bestselling, award-winning novel A Room Made of Leaves. These letters formed the foundation for Kate Grenville's acclaimed novel, A Room Made of Leaves. They inspired the depiction of her imagined Elizabeth Macarthur—shrewd, subtle, and passionate. Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the...
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Secret River
    After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a death sentence. But among the convicts, there is a whisper that freedom...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Room Made of Leaves
    Kate Grenville's latest bestselling novel, now in a beautiful paperback edition. What if Elizabeth Macarthur—wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in the earliest days of Sydney—had written a shockingly frank secret memoir? And what if novelist Kate Grenville had miraculously found and published it? Marriage to a ruthless bully, the impulses of her heart, the search for power...
    Paperback
    $3400
    Elsewhere:
    $3700
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Room Made of Leaves
    Kate Grenville's latest bestselling novel, now in a smaller format and featuring a beautiful updated cover design. What if Elizabeth Macarthur—wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in the earliest days of Sydney—had written a shockingly frank secret memoir? And what if novelist Kate Grenville had miraculously found and published it? Marriage to a ruthless bully, the impulses of...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Restless Dolly Maunder
    Restless Dolly Maunder is shortlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction. An exquisite portrait of Kate Grenville's complex, conflicted grandmother—a woman Kate feared as a child, and only came to understand in adulthood. Dolly Maunder was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society's long-locked doors were starting to creak ajar for women. Growing up in a...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Restless Dolly Maunder
    Dolly Maunder was born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society’s long-locked doors were starting to creak ajar for women. Growing up in a poor farming family in country New South Wales but clever, energetic and determined, Dolly spent her restless life pushing at those doors. Most women like her have disappeared from view, remembered only in family...
    Paperback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Sarah Thornhill
    From the beginning, Jack and I were friends. Somehow our way of looking at things fitted together. He never called me Dolly, the way the others did, only my full and proper name. Sarah Thornhill is the youngest child of William Thornhill, convict-turned-landowner on the Hawkesbury River. She grows up in the fine house her father is so proud of,...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Dark Places
    This is Albion Gidley Singer at the pen, a man with a weakness for a good fact. The first fact is always the hardest: you have to begin somewhere, and such is the nature of this intractable universe that the only thing you can start with is yourself. Dark Places, a companion novel to Lilian's Story, is the tale of...
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Lilian's Story
    Listen, I told myself, and heard the waves against the harbour-wall, a gull being peevish, the white tapping stick of a blind man against the stones. Listen, I told myself, this is history. Loosely inspired by the legendary Sydney bohemian Bea Miles, Kate Grenville’s much-loved debut novel recounts the life of the irrepressible Lilian Una Singer: from wealthy middle-class girlhood...
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Kindness Cup
    I told them to go into the scrub and disperse the tribe. Disperse? That is a strange word. What do you mean by dispersing? Firing at them. Two decades after a massacre of local Aboriginal people, the former residents of a Queensland town have reunited to celebrate the progress and prosperity of their community. Tom Dorahy, returning to his hometown,...
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Historical Fiction

View all
  • New Release
    The Parisian Chapter
    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library and The Librarians of Rue de Picardie comes a charming and cinematic novel following a young woman from Montana who lands a job in the American Library in Paris, where she discovers the power of storytelling and writes her own Parisian chapter.'Stirring and rich with detail' New York Times...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Inferno
    AD 60. Nero Claudius Caesar is Emperor. He is feared for his temper. He is known to be intoxicated by the power he wields. And why not? The Roman Empire stretches from the wilds of Britain to the deserts of Parthia. Nero is god of all he surveys. Yet dangerous traitors lie close at hand. Generals commanding legions. Senators whispering...
    Paperback
    $3100
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Circle of Days
    From the master of epic fiction comes the deeply human story of one of the world's greatest mysteries: the building of Stonehenge. A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Soldier's Daughter
    The heart-stopping new blockbuster by the bestselling author of The Fallen Woman. Violet Nash has grown up in the shadows of her father Charlie's shattered dreams. It's been years since he walked away from the battlefields of France, a WWI hero but his heart in tatters, only to see it broken all over again in the worst way possible. In...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Girl with the Suitcase
    The enthralling new novel from the 10-million-copy, No. 1 bestselling author. London 1941 When Mary meets a glamorous stranger named Elizabeth, she realises their lives couldn't be more different. But when an air raid forces them to take shelter underground, Mary's life is set to change forever. After waking up in hospital, injured but alive, the nurse mistakes her for...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Lost Bookshop
    Evie Woods' stunning new novel The Story Collector is available now. The Echo of Old Books meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets. ‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’ On a quiet street in...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2500
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • All the Diamonds in Paris
    Kristin Harmel is firmly in the top echelon of WW2 storytellers - HEATHER MORRIS A master storyteller - SANTA MONTEFIORE The best at sweeping historical drama - KELLY HARMS A dazzling diamond of a novel - HAZEL GAYNOR * Paris, 1942: Anabel Martinet is a jewel thief, descended from a family that has spent centuries stealing from the unkind and...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Listeners
    ‘By turns a beautiful love story, a fascinating glimpse into the horrors of history and a haunting tale of loyalty and courage. A marvel of storytelling’ CHRIS WHITAKER, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark The Avallon Hotel offers unrivalled luxury in the wild Appalachian Mountains, its curative sweetwater washing away the troubles of high society. June 'Hoss'...
    Paperback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Song of Achilles
    The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a brilliantly crafted retelling of the ancient Greek epic of Achilles and Patroclus, transforming the classical myth into a profoundly moving love story. Set against the richly depicted backdrop of Greece during the heroically tumultuous age, the narrative follows Patroclus, an awkward and exiled young prince, who is taken to the court...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Cardinal
    Step into the thrill and intrigue of Tudor England in the rich, compelling new novel from Sunday Times bestseller Alison Weir. Alison Weir makes history come alive as no one else BARBARA ERSKINE AN EXTRAORDINARY RISE TO POWER. A TRAGIC FALL FROM GRACE. It begins with young Tom Wolsey, the bright and brilliant son of a Suffolk tradesman, sent to...
    Paperback
    $3400
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Mythos
    Mythos by Stephen Fry is a compelling retelling of the classic Greek myths, reimagined with a wit and elegance that only Fry can deliver. This volume transports the reader to a world where mortals intertwine with the divine, and the timeless tales unfold in a spellbinding narrative that captures the imagination. From the cosmogony—the birth of the cosmos—to the exploits...
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    15% off
    The Four Winds
    Kristin Hannah is a classic storyteller and The Four Winds sees her at the top of her game - Matt Haig Powerful and compelling - Delia Owens, number one international bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing A story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope. I loved this book so much! - Christy Lefteri, bestselling author of The...
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.