Thomas Keneally - A River Town

He had left a letter for Mamie, which she read, retained, but did not reply to.

Dearest Woman,

I appeal to you as one who has only recently seen Salvation’s light. I was guilty of extreme sins within your own family, but they were the sins of a man unredeemed, a man in darkness, an infidel who thought those who dwelt in Light were infidels. I have now drunk at the Fountainhead, I now dwell in Radiance, and my past crimes have no bearing on my present life or intentions.

My life is turned utterly, like the face of a flower, to the Divine light of your face. I have tried to expiate my sin with Ellen Burke and will speak to her and will of course forever support her child. It is she who has chosen not to take me as a husband and will now seek her independent fortune in Sydney. To that fortune, I shall make appropriate contributions.

You are my lodestone, and if you would only, dear woman, return to our former arrangement, you will never have cause to doubt my devotion.

Many small craft speckled the river for the bridge opening, including one rowed by two ten-year-olds, Eddie and Ronald Sage. This rowboat, through too much shy-acking on the part of the children on board, capsized. The Sage boys’ younger sister Doris was thrown into the tide and gave Johnny Shea, who had already been playing in the shallows, wavering towards the depths but strangely obedient to his parents’ edict that he should not swim out amongst the boats, a pretext to go out into the depths to save her. Eventually, on the recommendation of Mr. Ernie Malcolm, Secretary of the Humane Society, Macleay branch, Johnny Shea was awarded the Silver Medal of the Society for saving the Sage child. It was acknowledged by his parents that this award was very good for the child.

From the day after the bridge opening, one of the busiest transitters was Tim Shea, transporting his household goods to the newly purchased store in East by dray. The signwriter did the place out in blue and gold, and the lettering said K. SHEA—GENERAL STORE. No one seemed to refer much to this change, or persecute Tim about it. For by then it was generally acknowledged that Tim Shea wasn’t the dangerous fellow some had earlier claimed him to be.

Thomas Keneally reached a new level of renown as one of Australia’s—and the world’s—leading literary figures with the release of Stephen Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film adaptation of Schindler’s List , for which Thomas Keneally had won the prestigious Booker Prize upon its original publication. Among Thomas Keneally’s most well-known novels are The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Confederates, Gossip from the Forest , and, most recently, Woman of the Inner Sea . Actively involved in Australia’s republican movement, he has served on numerous government councils and commissions in his native country and has taught at universities there and in the United States. Currently he is a Distinguished Professor in the English Department at the University of California, Irvine. Married, with two daughters, he divides his time between California and Sydney.

The Place at Whitton

The Fear

Bring Larks and Heroes

Three Cheers for the Paraclete

The Survivor

A Dutiful Daughter

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Blood Red, Sister Rose

Gossip from the Forest

Season in Purgatory

A Victim of the Aurora

Passenger

Confederates

The Cut-Rate Kingdom

Schindler’s List

A Family Madness

The Playmaker

To Asmara

Flying Hero Class

Woman of the Inner Sea

A River Town

Outback

Now and in Time to Come

The Place Where Souls Are Born:

A Journey to the Southwest

Ned Kelly and the City of Bees

PUBLISHED BY NAN A. TALESE

an imprint of Doubleday

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036

DOUBLEDAY is a trademark of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

First published in Great Britain by Hodder and Stoughton.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Keneally, Thomas.

A river town / Thomas Keneally.—1st ed. in the U.S.A.

p. cm.

1. City and town life—Australia—Fiction. 2. Social classes—Australia—Fiction. 3. Immigrants—Australia—Fiction. 4. Irish—Australia—Fiction. I. Title.

PR9619.3.K46R58 1995

823—dc20 94-48664

eISBN: 978-0-307-80063-3

Copyright © 1995 by Serpentine Publishing Co. Pty. Ltd.

All Rights Reserved

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