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The Colour
1st edn 1st printing signed by author on title page. 8vo. Original gilt lettered black cloth (page edges a little tanned - otherwise Fine), dustwrapper (Fine in protective cover, not price clipped). Pp. 368, illus with coloured endpaper maps (no other inscriptions).
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2003
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About the author
Rose Tremain
79 books1,106 followersDame Rose Tremain is an acclaimed English novelist and short story writer, celebrated for her distinctive approach to historical fiction and her focus on characters who exist on the margins of society. Educated at the Sorbonne and the University of East Anglia, where she later taught creative writing and served as Chancellor, Tremain has produced a rich body of work spanning novels, short stories, plays, and memoir. Influenced by writers such as William Golding and Gabriel García Márquez, her narratives often blend psychological depth with lyrical prose.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.
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April 26, 2020Despite being a historical novel set in Victorian New Zealand at the time of the 19th century gold rush it has, even more than Music and Silence or Restoration a dreamlike atmosphere.
The book has a syrupy pace, any one moment full and rich but in no hurry to get to the next and a persistent strangeness - in a word, dreamlike. Summed up by the central image of the cob house - inexpertly constructed by the novel's central male character as a couple's 'starter home'. A couple from England have migrated to New Zealand, plainly they are trying to escape the past and seize dreams - the gold fields call to the man's imagination, so as you can imagine the action of the book concerns real energy and effort expended in pursuit of the insubstantial.
On the downside I felt the revealed secret of the husband was weaker than I had been expecting, particularly after the advent of the male prostitute on the way to the gold-fields. Perhaps I've simply read too many Victorian novels and have become locked into a cycle of explosive secret inflation, when maybe it is a case of how destructive that secret is to the character not the reader.
After three of Tremain's historical novels I feel that historical is not the correct term for them. They are set in the past yet accuracy doesn't seem to be the point, nor illuminating some particular event. The stories instead are primarily human ones, but which perhaps could have existed only in a certain historical context. Symbols and psychology though trump historical realities. In this story a house built of cob is eroded away by the wind. Cob isn't that flighty, though I suppose the particular house in question could simply have been poorly constructed, however as an image it has a fantastic power, the house like the gold are images of things that are substantial, tangible, and natural but in this novel through some alchemy we find that they are not,suggesting maybe how alien this new zeeland is to the settlers.
The book has a syrupy pace, any one moment full and rich but in no hurry to get to the next and a persistent strangeness - in a word, dreamlike. Summed up by the central image of the cob house - inexpertly constructed by the novel's central male character as a couple's 'starter home'. A couple from England have migrated to New Zealand, plainly they are trying to escape the past and seize dreams - the gold fields call to the man's imagination, so as you can imagine the action of the book concerns real energy and effort expended in pursuit of the insubstantial.
On the downside I felt the revealed secret of the husband was weaker than I had been expecting, particularly after the advent of the male prostitute on the way to the gold-fields. Perhaps I've simply read too many Victorian novels and have become locked into a cycle of explosive secret inflation, when maybe it is a case of how destructive that secret is to the character not the reader.
After three of Tremain's historical novels I feel that historical is not the correct term for them. They are set in the past yet accuracy doesn't seem to be the point, nor illuminating some particular event. The stories instead are primarily human ones, but which perhaps could have existed only in a certain historical context. Symbols and psychology though trump historical realities. In this story a house built of cob is eroded away by the wind. Cob isn't that flighty, though I suppose the particular house in question could simply have been poorly constructed, however as an image it has a fantastic power, the house like the gold are images of things that are substantial, tangible, and natural but in this novel through some alchemy we find that they are not,suggesting maybe how alien this new zeeland is to the settlers.
November 22, 2015
Having finished this book, I have decided to rewrite the review. Here is what I like about this writer and this novel:
First of all I am impressed with the author's ability to create this story from nothing. The story seems so real, the people seem real. Out of nothing she has created a world that has never existed. I usually find non-fiction better than fiction. Fiction never feels genuine, but this novel does.
What I like most about this book is the way the author has an idea and then says it with a few simple words that feel utterly perfect. I fear that if I extract those sentences out of the novel you will not understand them. Here is one: "What is important to me is already mine." See, you don't understand! But it has to do with self-discovery. This sentence just perfectly summarizes how it is when you understand what is important for yourself.
Tremain, through this novel, made me understand the craziness that engulfs those looking for gold. I understand now what these people experienced, not just physically but emotionally too.
For me, the primary theme of this book is in fact love. What it does to us. How it can both destroy us and make life worth living. Their are several different love stories found in this novel. Each love relationship has a different story to tell. Each one was distinct and special in its own way.
I feel like I know more about New Zealand after reading this book, both its history and its physical characteristics. I had to get out a map and find the cities. I found them all. I like that I could place this story on a real patch of earth.
Finally, the characters are perfectly drawn - through dialog and what they do and how they do what they do. I will give you one example only. There are two immigrant families - the Blackstones(Joseph and Harriet and Joseph's mother Lillian) and the Orchards(Toby and Dorothy and their son Edwin). Lillian and Dorothy are dining with the Orchards. Lillian, proper and constrained, fingers her wine glass, straightens the cutlery. Toby, is jovial and happy - the spring is coming, the day had been beautiful, he is entertaining three women and celebrates by putting on a new waistcoat and bringing out two bottles of his best claret. Toby, in an animated, lively manner, praises the skills of livestock auctioneers. He exclaims that what they do is a "science" he so admires. Lillian's late husband had been a livestock auctioneer. And how does Tremain draw the scene for us? Lillian is terribly flattered! Someone recognizes her worth, albeit though her late husband. She halts her hands' aligning of the cutlery and positions them in a "prayer-like clench". When she next picks up her glass of claret her little finger is held at an angle. Picture this. Tremain puts before our eyes exactly how this woman would appear, exactly what she most probably would do. We see it. And it is so perfect because this is exactly what Lillian would do. Tremain draws characters so we see them.
One more thing - where the plot leads was a complete surprise. The book description gives you no clue! And then at the end, all the threads are tied up perfectly and what each character has done makes complete sense.
First of all I am impressed with the author's ability to create this story from nothing. The story seems so real, the people seem real. Out of nothing she has created a world that has never existed. I usually find non-fiction better than fiction. Fiction never feels genuine, but this novel does.
What I like most about this book is the way the author has an idea and then says it with a few simple words that feel utterly perfect. I fear that if I extract those sentences out of the novel you will not understand them. Here is one: "What is important to me is already mine." See, you don't understand! But it has to do with self-discovery. This sentence just perfectly summarizes how it is when you understand what is important for yourself.
Tremain, through this novel, made me understand the craziness that engulfs those looking for gold. I understand now what these people experienced, not just physically but emotionally too.
For me, the primary theme of this book is in fact love. What it does to us. How it can both destroy us and make life worth living. Their are several different love stories found in this novel. Each love relationship has a different story to tell. Each one was distinct and special in its own way.
I feel like I know more about New Zealand after reading this book, both its history and its physical characteristics. I had to get out a map and find the cities. I found them all. I like that I could place this story on a real patch of earth.
Finally, the characters are perfectly drawn - through dialog and what they do and how they do what they do. I will give you one example only. There are two immigrant families - the Blackstones(Joseph and Harriet and Joseph's mother Lillian) and the Orchards(Toby and Dorothy and their son Edwin). Lillian and Dorothy are dining with the Orchards. Lillian, proper and constrained, fingers her wine glass, straightens the cutlery. Toby, is jovial and happy - the spring is coming, the day had been beautiful, he is entertaining three women and celebrates by putting on a new waistcoat and bringing out two bottles of his best claret. Toby, in an animated, lively manner, praises the skills of livestock auctioneers. He exclaims that what they do is a "science" he so admires. Lillian's late husband had been a livestock auctioneer. And how does Tremain draw the scene for us? Lillian is terribly flattered! Someone recognizes her worth, albeit though her late husband. She halts her hands' aligning of the cutlery and positions them in a "prayer-like clench". When she next picks up her glass of claret her little finger is held at an angle. Picture this. Tremain puts before our eyes exactly how this woman would appear, exactly what she most probably would do. We see it. And it is so perfect because this is exactly what Lillian would do. Tremain draws characters so we see them.
One more thing - where the plot leads was a complete surprise. The book description gives you no clue! And then at the end, all the threads are tied up perfectly and what each character has done makes complete sense.
July 5, 2010
4.5 stars
The Colour is set in 1860s New Zealand, a time of mad rushing for gold as well as nation-building fueled by heavy immigration. Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone arrive from England with Joseph's widowed mother Lillian in tow. Joseph acquires some land, builds a temporary house, and they begin the work of establishing a farm. But Joseph is distracted by gold fever after finding some of "the colour," and he is haunted by memories of the heinous act that led to his flight from England.
Meanwhile, Harriet comes to regret hastily marrying a man she barely knew. He was her ticket to something new and exciting, but she finds she cannot love or even like her parsimonious, affectionless husband. She is smarter and more resourceful than Joseph, and he resents her for it.
Eventually, the Gold Rush leads both Joseph and Harriet into experiences that test their mettle in ways they never could have guessed at when they dreamed of a new life in a new land. Joseph is found sorely lacking in character and fortitude, while Harriet discovers her hidden reserves of strength, determination, and self-sufficiency.
This is a rather meditative and often melancholic work. Rose Tremain gets deep inside the hearts and minds of the characters, sifting through their hopes and despairs and secret motivations. This is where her writing really shines.
I identified most strongly with Harriet. I could appreciate her growing desire for solitude, her love of animals and unbounded Nature, and her ability to go with the flow in a practical way. I was glad that her practical acceptance was eventually rewarded, and I can see her living out her future in a contentment very different from the one she'd envisioned.
As for Joseph Blackstone, I think he's a weak and pathetic excuse for a man. He doesn't recognize the treasure he has in Harriet and doesn't deserve her. He has a stinginess of spirit that pervades every relationship and endeavour of his life. He sees other people only as stepping stones or obstacles to his own selfish ends, and he's utterly lacking in self-knowledge.
The "supporting cast" of characters is also very memorable. There's Pao Yi, the gentle Chinese vegetable seller with his makeshift opium den. And the robust, enthusiastic, generous Toby and Dorothy Orchard on their very successful sheep run. And also Pare, the Maori woman caught alone between the two worlds, desperately wanting to do right by everyone, white or native.
I enjoyed moving through this story at a slower-than-usual pace, and I strongly recommend it for the character studies as well as a rich introduction to historical New Zealand.
The Colour is set in 1860s New Zealand, a time of mad rushing for gold as well as nation-building fueled by heavy immigration. Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone arrive from England with Joseph's widowed mother Lillian in tow. Joseph acquires some land, builds a temporary house, and they begin the work of establishing a farm. But Joseph is distracted by gold fever after finding some of "the colour," and he is haunted by memories of the heinous act that led to his flight from England.
Meanwhile, Harriet comes to regret hastily marrying a man she barely knew. He was her ticket to something new and exciting, but she finds she cannot love or even like her parsimonious, affectionless husband. She is smarter and more resourceful than Joseph, and he resents her for it.
Eventually, the Gold Rush leads both Joseph and Harriet into experiences that test their mettle in ways they never could have guessed at when they dreamed of a new life in a new land. Joseph is found sorely lacking in character and fortitude, while Harriet discovers her hidden reserves of strength, determination, and self-sufficiency.
This is a rather meditative and often melancholic work. Rose Tremain gets deep inside the hearts and minds of the characters, sifting through their hopes and despairs and secret motivations. This is where her writing really shines.
I identified most strongly with Harriet. I could appreciate her growing desire for solitude, her love of animals and unbounded Nature, and her ability to go with the flow in a practical way. I was glad that her practical acceptance was eventually rewarded, and I can see her living out her future in a contentment very different from the one she'd envisioned.
As for Joseph Blackstone, I think he's a weak and pathetic excuse for a man. He doesn't recognize the treasure he has in Harriet and doesn't deserve her. He has a stinginess of spirit that pervades every relationship and endeavour of his life. He sees other people only as stepping stones or obstacles to his own selfish ends, and he's utterly lacking in self-knowledge.
The "supporting cast" of characters is also very memorable. There's Pao Yi, the gentle Chinese vegetable seller with his makeshift opium den. And the robust, enthusiastic, generous Toby and Dorothy Orchard on their very successful sheep run. And also Pare, the Maori woman caught alone between the two worlds, desperately wanting to do right by everyone, white or native.
I enjoyed moving through this story at a slower-than-usual pace, and I strongly recommend it for the character studies as well as a rich introduction to historical New Zealand.
December 18, 2021
Newly married couple Harriet and Joseph Blackstone travel from England to New Zealand in the 1860s to start a new life. They are accompanied by Joseph’s widowed mother. They build a cottage and attempt to farm. They are inexperienced so they make mistakes and suffer the consequences. The harsh weather adds to their woes. When Joseph finds “the colour” in the river on his plot of land, gold fever takes over and changes everything.
Their marriage is troubled from the start for reasons that will eventually be revealed: “She thought that perhaps what she longed to hear was that almost every life was arranged like this, around a void where love should have been and was not, and that her predicament was therefore an ordinary one.”
This book is right up my alley. It is a sweeping adventure, filled with evocative details of the landscapes, natural disasters, and a rugged life. The characters are deeply developed, and even the animals are given a personality. The storyline explores themes such as greed, hubris, unhappiness, and yearning for a better life. It ultimately portrays love as more a powerful force than riches.
This book is beautifully and atmospherically written. It conjures a sense of time and place and reminds me of the type of writing we find in novels of the 19th century. All the senses come into play in the creation of these scenes. Tremain brings these characters to life. We understand their deepest desires, anxieties, strengths, flaws, and what drives their actions, even acts that are not particularly pleasant.
We get a glimpse of life in this historic time – farming and ranching life, neighbors, indigenous people, Chinese immigrants, travel by ship and over land. It is an absorbing story. The ending is satisfying. I just loved it and am adding it to my favorites.
“Most of what Man does, moment to moment, is for his imagined future, for the coming time, in which he will be happier than in time present.”
Their marriage is troubled from the start for reasons that will eventually be revealed: “She thought that perhaps what she longed to hear was that almost every life was arranged like this, around a void where love should have been and was not, and that her predicament was therefore an ordinary one.”
This book is right up my alley. It is a sweeping adventure, filled with evocative details of the landscapes, natural disasters, and a rugged life. The characters are deeply developed, and even the animals are given a personality. The storyline explores themes such as greed, hubris, unhappiness, and yearning for a better life. It ultimately portrays love as more a powerful force than riches.
This book is beautifully and atmospherically written. It conjures a sense of time and place and reminds me of the type of writing we find in novels of the 19th century. All the senses come into play in the creation of these scenes. Tremain brings these characters to life. We understand their deepest desires, anxieties, strengths, flaws, and what drives their actions, even acts that are not particularly pleasant.
We get a glimpse of life in this historic time – farming and ranching life, neighbors, indigenous people, Chinese immigrants, travel by ship and over land. It is an absorbing story. The ending is satisfying. I just loved it and am adding it to my favorites.
“Most of what Man does, moment to moment, is for his imagined future, for the coming time, in which he will be happier than in time present.”
January 27, 2023
This is historical fiction which is both familiar and unusual. The gold rush is a common North American theme, but a gold rush in colonial New Zealand adds a veneer of the unfamiliar — at least to this Canadian reader.
Tremain knows how to weave story lines into an intricate tapestry, and characters are brought to life. Life is hard, and fate is relentless and all that glitters is not gold, or even the colour of gold. All these characters are far from "home" and may never achieve something close to it again.
Home is a colour too, and here it has many shades.
Tremain knows how to weave story lines into an intricate tapestry, and characters are brought to life. Life is hard, and fate is relentless and all that glitters is not gold, or even the colour of gold. All these characters are far from "home" and may never achieve something close to it again.
Home is a colour too, and here it has many shades.
April 4, 2022
3 stars
My rating is only a reflection of my overall enjoyment of this book. The writing is excellent though it was too much of a good thing. I would have been a better read (for me) if this book had been edited down by about 20-30%. I had to push through the first 80% before feeling engaged in the story. The characters were extremely well drawn which is why I didn't DNF the book ( I was tempted). I became invested in the lives of the two main characters and wanted to find out what would happen to them.
I tend to stay away from books with magical realism. This book had a good chunk of it which ruined parts of the ending for me.
Rose Tremain is undoubtedly a good writer but I am not the right audience for this book.
My rating is only a reflection of my overall enjoyment of this book. The writing is excellent though it was too much of a good thing. I would have been a better read (for me) if this book had been edited down by about 20-30%. I had to push through the first 80% before feeling engaged in the story. The characters were extremely well drawn which is why I didn't DNF the book ( I was tempted). I became invested in the lives of the two main characters and wanted to find out what would happen to them.
I tend to stay away from books with magical realism. This book had a good chunk of it which ruined parts of the ending for me.
Rose Tremain is undoubtedly a good writer but I am not the right audience for this book.
June 29, 2017
Gold Rush
Rush, don't walk or even run, to buy this book! In this magnificent novel of the New Zealand gold rush of the 1860s, epic in scope but intimate in texture, Rose Tremain shows a power that her most recent book, The Road Home, only hints at, although her central concern of humanity triumphing through struggle remains the same.
"The colour" is the miners' term for that gleam of gold that may—or may not—indicate the presence of a seam. It is a madness, a seduction that seldom brings satisfaction. Joseph Blackstone, newly arrived from England, glimpses the colour by a stream on the hardscrabble property he has bought near Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island. It seduces him into scanting on the proper establishment of his farm, failing to replace the temporary sod house by a permanent structure fit for his mother and his new wife, who have accompanied him from Norfolk. It leads him to join the gold rush on the inhospitable west coast of the island, leaving the women to fend for themselves.
Joseph—compulsive, driven, and pursued by an old guilt—is not presented as a very sympathetic character. That role is given to Harriet, his wife. A former governess with a taste for adventure, she years for some means of proving herself, and ensuing events give her opportunities aplenty. She emerges as one of those strong pioneer women without whom none of the great nineteenth-century expansions would have been possible. But she is also a person of great sensitivity, with a true gift for friendship. It is she who, at her lowest ebb, forms a connection with the Orchards, owners of successful sheep ranch nearby, finding a place in the life of their family that she is denied in her own. She is also a woman with strong emotional and physical needs; the chapter in which these are finally requited, in the most unexpected fashion, brought me to tears.
And what of "the color"? Gold is found and gold is lost, but the truly sympathetic characters in the book are those who do not make gold their god. The novel is framed by the mystery and awe of an untamed country (and its original people) on the one hand, and by the simple truths of everyday living on the other. At its heart, it is about love—love denied in the usual ways, but triumphing in unexpected ones. Not since the novels of Jane Urquhart ( The Stone Carvers and especially A Map of Glass ), writing about pioneers in Canada at the opposite end of the globe, have I read anything of this kind that has moved me so deeply.
+ + + + + +
Since I wrote this review in 2009, Eleanor Catton has produced her own novel on the New Zealand Gold Rush, The Luminaries. A book of immense scale, it won seemingly every prize going. Rose Tremain is a more traditional writer, with no interest in Catton's astrological structures. The Colour is a less clever book, but I think a more human one. While I came to admire Catton's achievement greatly, it was the memory of the special atmosphere left in my mind by Tremain that sustained me through the first difficult chapters.
Rush, don't walk or even run, to buy this book! In this magnificent novel of the New Zealand gold rush of the 1860s, epic in scope but intimate in texture, Rose Tremain shows a power that her most recent book, The Road Home, only hints at, although her central concern of humanity triumphing through struggle remains the same.
"The colour" is the miners' term for that gleam of gold that may—or may not—indicate the presence of a seam. It is a madness, a seduction that seldom brings satisfaction. Joseph Blackstone, newly arrived from England, glimpses the colour by a stream on the hardscrabble property he has bought near Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island. It seduces him into scanting on the proper establishment of his farm, failing to replace the temporary sod house by a permanent structure fit for his mother and his new wife, who have accompanied him from Norfolk. It leads him to join the gold rush on the inhospitable west coast of the island, leaving the women to fend for themselves.
Joseph—compulsive, driven, and pursued by an old guilt—is not presented as a very sympathetic character. That role is given to Harriet, his wife. A former governess with a taste for adventure, she years for some means of proving herself, and ensuing events give her opportunities aplenty. She emerges as one of those strong pioneer women without whom none of the great nineteenth-century expansions would have been possible. But she is also a person of great sensitivity, with a true gift for friendship. It is she who, at her lowest ebb, forms a connection with the Orchards, owners of successful sheep ranch nearby, finding a place in the life of their family that she is denied in her own. She is also a woman with strong emotional and physical needs; the chapter in which these are finally requited, in the most unexpected fashion, brought me to tears.
And what of "the color"? Gold is found and gold is lost, but the truly sympathetic characters in the book are those who do not make gold their god. The novel is framed by the mystery and awe of an untamed country (and its original people) on the one hand, and by the simple truths of everyday living on the other. At its heart, it is about love—love denied in the usual ways, but triumphing in unexpected ones. Not since the novels of Jane Urquhart ( The Stone Carvers and especially A Map of Glass ), writing about pioneers in Canada at the opposite end of the globe, have I read anything of this kind that has moved me so deeply.
+ + + + + +
Since I wrote this review in 2009, Eleanor Catton has produced her own novel on the New Zealand Gold Rush, The Luminaries. A book of immense scale, it won seemingly every prize going. Rose Tremain is a more traditional writer, with no interest in Catton's astrological structures. The Colour is a less clever book, but I think a more human one. While I came to admire Catton's achievement greatly, it was the memory of the special atmosphere left in my mind by Tremain that sustained me through the first difficult chapters.
August 13, 2019
O carte plină de aventuri, dar și de răsturnări de situații pe care am savurat-o încet-încet...
"Atât de puține lucruri ne emoționează. Suntem morți cu toții, la fel ca și copacii morți. Apoi, ca din senin, răsare un lăstar verde..."
"(...) că viața fiecărui om trece atât de repede "și renunțăm la prea multe lucruri" și că trecem prin viață încercând să ne agățăm de lucrurile care se învârt în jurul nostru."
"- Nu putem pretinde ca viețile bărbaților să înceapă sau să se sfârșească atunci când ne căsătorim cu ei - nici cu ale noastre nu se întâmplă astfel."
"Atât de puține lucruri ne emoționează. Suntem morți cu toții, la fel ca și copacii morți. Apoi, ca din senin, răsare un lăstar verde..."
"(...) că viața fiecărui om trece atât de repede "și renunțăm la prea multe lucruri" și că trecem prin viață încercând să ne agățăm de lucrurile care se învârt în jurul nostru."
"- Nu putem pretinde ca viețile bărbaților să înceapă sau să se sfârșească atunci când ne căsătorim cu ei - nici cu ale noastre nu se întâmplă astfel."
December 18, 2007
Ugh! This was one of those books that had a good beginning, about 70 pages or so, and then went tremendously downhill.
The novel follows a husband and wife who have decided to start anew in New Zealand in the mid-nineteenth century only to be thwarted at every turn and estranged. Blah blah blah.
So if that WAS the story it might have been an ok read. The writing was nothing impressive, but the initial renderings of the characters was well done.
And then the author sort of goes beserk. She adds a dash of completely ill-fitting magical realism in the relationship between a young boy and his Maori nurse; a soupcon of homosexuality; a thimbleful of early feminism; etc. etc.
By the halfway mark, the book is so convoluted that having finished it, I'm still not sure which part the author intended me to focus on. Had she pared down her opus and concentrated on the strong suit, which was her research and accurate rendering of a specific place and time, I think it would have been far more successful. As it stands, however, the book is sort of one giant mess.
Oh, and as an aside. I cannot abide writers (and the culprits are frequently women) who refer to the male genitalia as "his sex." God, could you get more romance novelly than that?
The novel follows a husband and wife who have decided to start anew in New Zealand in the mid-nineteenth century only to be thwarted at every turn and estranged. Blah blah blah.
So if that WAS the story it might have been an ok read. The writing was nothing impressive, but the initial renderings of the characters was well done.
And then the author sort of goes beserk. She adds a dash of completely ill-fitting magical realism in the relationship between a young boy and his Maori nurse; a soupcon of homosexuality; a thimbleful of early feminism; etc. etc.
By the halfway mark, the book is so convoluted that having finished it, I'm still not sure which part the author intended me to focus on. Had she pared down her opus and concentrated on the strong suit, which was her research and accurate rendering of a specific place and time, I think it would have been far more successful. As it stands, however, the book is sort of one giant mess.
Oh, and as an aside. I cannot abide writers (and the culprits are frequently women) who refer to the male genitalia as "his sex." God, could you get more romance novelly than that?
May 1, 2018
I chose Rose Tremain's The Colour for the penultimate stop on my Around the World in 80 Books challenge. Set in New Zealand, The Colour is the first of Tremain's novels which I have read; before this, I had only encountered one of her short story collections. The Daily Telegraph calls her 'one of the finest writers in English', and this sentiment seems to be echoed by many reviewers.
The central characters in The Colour are married couple Joseph and Harriet Blackstone. They choose to migrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in 1864, along with Joseph's mother, Lilian, 'in search of new beginnings and prosperity'. Soon after they construct their house, Joseph finds small pieces of gold in the local creek, and is 'seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth'. He then sets off alone, with the destination of New Zealand's Southern Alps on his mind; there are a series of newly-discovered goldfields there, and he joins an enormous migration of men in order to try and make his fortune. The blurb declares the novel 'by turns both moving and terrifying', and describes it as being 'about a quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and explore the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness.'
Tremain gives a marked consideration to colour in her novel from its very beginning. She writes: 'It was their first winter. The earth under their boots was grey. The yellow tussock-grass was salty with hail. In the violet clouds of afternoon lay the promise of a great winding-sheet of snow.' I was struck by Tremain's writing immediately. She has such a gift for seamlessly blending her vivid descriptions with her characters, and the actions which they take. There is a timelessness to Tremain's prose, despite the effective rooting of her novel in a very particular period and setting. She uses her chosen framework in order to explore many different themes relating to expatriation, nature, and human nature, particularly with regard to the ways in which changing conditions alter the relationships between husband and wife, and son and mother.
It feels as though the author is intimately acquainted with her characters, and their every wish and whim. When describing Joseph in the novel's early stages, for instance, Tremain writes: 'He turned away from his mother and looked admiringly at this new wife of his, kneeling by the reluctant fire. And he felt his heart suddenly fill to the very core with gratitude and affection... Joseph wanted to cross the room and put his arms around Harriet and gather her hair into a knot in his hand. He wanted to lay his head on her shoulder and tell her the one thing that he would never be able to admit to her - that she had saved his life.' Harriet, too, feels fully formed, particularly given her slightly unusual and non-conformist character: 'But she was a woman who longed for the unfamiliar and the strange... She wanted to see her own hand in everything. No matter if it took a long time. No matter if her skin was burned in the summer heat. No matter if she had to learn each new task like a child. She had been a governess for twelve years. Now, she had travelled an ocean and stood in a new place, but she wanted to go still further, into a wilderness.'
The Colour feels ultimately realistic from its beginning. It is filled with fraught discussions, and the darkness and loneliness which such a new life can bring with it. The cultural information is rich, and, particularly along with Tremain's descriptions, paints a wonderful and tangible picture. I did find the ending slightly problematic, but it was still very enjoyable nevertheless, and I certainly struggled to put it down. Immersive and beautifully executed, The Colour is a believable and very human novel, which I highly recommend. I cannot wait to read more books by Tremain.
The central characters in The Colour are married couple Joseph and Harriet Blackstone. They choose to migrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in 1864, along with Joseph's mother, Lilian, 'in search of new beginnings and prosperity'. Soon after they construct their house, Joseph finds small pieces of gold in the local creek, and is 'seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth'. He then sets off alone, with the destination of New Zealand's Southern Alps on his mind; there are a series of newly-discovered goldfields there, and he joins an enormous migration of men in order to try and make his fortune. The blurb declares the novel 'by turns both moving and terrifying', and describes it as being 'about a quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and explore the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness.'
Tremain gives a marked consideration to colour in her novel from its very beginning. She writes: 'It was their first winter. The earth under their boots was grey. The yellow tussock-grass was salty with hail. In the violet clouds of afternoon lay the promise of a great winding-sheet of snow.' I was struck by Tremain's writing immediately. She has such a gift for seamlessly blending her vivid descriptions with her characters, and the actions which they take. There is a timelessness to Tremain's prose, despite the effective rooting of her novel in a very particular period and setting. She uses her chosen framework in order to explore many different themes relating to expatriation, nature, and human nature, particularly with regard to the ways in which changing conditions alter the relationships between husband and wife, and son and mother.
It feels as though the author is intimately acquainted with her characters, and their every wish and whim. When describing Joseph in the novel's early stages, for instance, Tremain writes: 'He turned away from his mother and looked admiringly at this new wife of his, kneeling by the reluctant fire. And he felt his heart suddenly fill to the very core with gratitude and affection... Joseph wanted to cross the room and put his arms around Harriet and gather her hair into a knot in his hand. He wanted to lay his head on her shoulder and tell her the one thing that he would never be able to admit to her - that she had saved his life.' Harriet, too, feels fully formed, particularly given her slightly unusual and non-conformist character: 'But she was a woman who longed for the unfamiliar and the strange... She wanted to see her own hand in everything. No matter if it took a long time. No matter if her skin was burned in the summer heat. No matter if she had to learn each new task like a child. She had been a governess for twelve years. Now, she had travelled an ocean and stood in a new place, but she wanted to go still further, into a wilderness.'
The Colour feels ultimately realistic from its beginning. It is filled with fraught discussions, and the darkness and loneliness which such a new life can bring with it. The cultural information is rich, and, particularly along with Tremain's descriptions, paints a wonderful and tangible picture. I did find the ending slightly problematic, but it was still very enjoyable nevertheless, and I certainly struggled to put it down. Immersive and beautifully executed, The Colour is a believable and very human novel, which I highly recommend. I cannot wait to read more books by Tremain.
December 28, 2015
This is a story of the New Zealand Gold Rush of the 1860's. The three main characters are intensely realized to their very thought patterns and perceptions. And not only to their goals of happiness, but to how they view the new world and the old.
Having read about 8 books set in Australia and N.Z. this year, I went back to this older Rose Tremain and was deliciously served. Good read, and also intense read- with mystical aspects in the plot of the child Edwin and his nurse maid. It's sad but completely captures the extremes of weather and change and spirit of N.Z. It just missed being a five star for me. The husband's degradation, depression, and reasoning process with both, along with his reactions and rationalizations- became just too much to know after awhile. Pioneering was rough and this was much like that process in real life history- not as many happy endings as presupposed.
Having read about 8 books set in Australia and N.Z. this year, I went back to this older Rose Tremain and was deliciously served. Good read, and also intense read- with mystical aspects in the plot of the child Edwin and his nurse maid. It's sad but completely captures the extremes of weather and change and spirit of N.Z. It just missed being a five star for me. The husband's degradation, depression, and reasoning process with both, along with his reactions and rationalizations- became just too much to know after awhile. Pioneering was rough and this was much like that process in real life history- not as many happy endings as presupposed.
September 10, 2017
I think I'll be happy reading anything Tremain writes. This had me in New Zealand in the 1850s and the gold rush. Joseph Blackstone has a past which is revealed to us in bits over the course of 300 plus pages. Harriet (Salt) Blackstone has a simple past of having been a governess which she so desperately wanted to put behind her that she willingly entered a loveless marriage. Together, they have left England behind to farm in the New World.
There is a good plot here which doesn't get in the way of good characterization of the two main characters. The time period is done well enough, but as I don't know anything more about it than I've read here, I don't know how accurate it is. I suspect Tremain did her research as I see no reason she would jeopardize her well deserved reputation for fine historical fiction. On the other hand, I'm well aware that, to make a good novel, liberties have to be taken. The characterizations of the supporting characters are less well done, but I didn't seem to mind. There is a bit of what I'd call magical realism, for lack of a better term. One supporting character is Maori, and with her, some Maori culture.
Her prose is very readable. It is only challenging in some of the New Zealand vocabulary with which I'm unfamiliar and that I was too absorbed to use an internet dictionary. It is most certainly a different world than that with which I'm familiar. This is a good, solid 4-stars, maybe toward the higher end of the group.
There is a good plot here which doesn't get in the way of good characterization of the two main characters. The time period is done well enough, but as I don't know anything more about it than I've read here, I don't know how accurate it is. I suspect Tremain did her research as I see no reason she would jeopardize her well deserved reputation for fine historical fiction. On the other hand, I'm well aware that, to make a good novel, liberties have to be taken. The characterizations of the supporting characters are less well done, but I didn't seem to mind. There is a bit of what I'd call magical realism, for lack of a better term. One supporting character is Maori, and with her, some Maori culture.
Her prose is very readable. It is only challenging in some of the New Zealand vocabulary with which I'm unfamiliar and that I was too absorbed to use an internet dictionary. It is most certainly a different world than that with which I'm familiar. This is a good, solid 4-stars, maybe toward the higher end of the group.
May 9, 2020
One of those times were I wished I’d trusted my instincts and bailed! This is bleak, depressing and down right disturbing at times, it’s stayed with me and not in a good way. (Beautiful writing though.)
January 29, 2016
What a book!! Now I know how this book must be considered as a 1001-books.
July 21, 2015
Description: Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from England to New Zealand, along with Joseph's mother Lilian, in search of new beginnings and prosperity, but the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in a creek bed, he hides the discovery from both his wife and mother and becomes obsessed with the riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new goldfields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of the "colour," rush to their destinies and doom.
The coldest winds came from the south and the Cob House had been built in the pathway of the winds.
The Luminaries is one type of story, The Colour another, so it is not doubling up to read both, trust me. What they do have in common is New Zealand Gold Rush, with heinous behaviour, deceit and avarice lavishly drizzled over. Fully recommended.
Southern Alps
4* The Road Home
4* The Colour
4* Restoration
TR Music and Silence
4* Trespass
1* Merivel
3* The American Lover
3* Collected short stories
The coldest winds came from the south and the Cob House had been built in the pathway of the winds.
The Luminaries is one type of story, The Colour another, so it is not doubling up to read both, trust me. What they do have in common is New Zealand Gold Rush, with heinous behaviour, deceit and avarice lavishly drizzled over. Fully recommended. Southern Alps4* The Road Home
4* The Colour
4* Restoration
TR Music and Silence
4* Trespass
1* Merivel
3* The American Lover
3* Collected short stories
September 2, 2017
A mismatched couple marry, and then travel from their native England to New Zealand to seek a new life, and escape their pasts, but when the husband finds a tiny amount of gold in a stream near the plot of land from which they are trying to scratch a living, it sets off an inescapable chain of events.
This was a great story, with, for me, unforgetable characters to which the author gave a lot of depth.
She describes the landscapes of New Zealand beautifully, and slowly unfolds the stories of the various characters, revealing the mysteries surrounding them as the book goes on....I loved it.
This was a great story, with, for me, unforgetable characters to which the author gave a lot of depth.
She describes the landscapes of New Zealand beautifully, and slowly unfolds the stories of the various characters, revealing the mysteries surrounding them as the book goes on....I loved it.
April 17, 2008
I'm one of those very superficial people for whom the setting of a novel is critical. I don't like, or am bored by, the country/city/region where the characters are flung, I don't read the book.
I even have prejudices against whole eras. Take the Upper South in the twentieth century. Please.
So it was with incredulity that I found myself reading with snowballing fascination and joy 'The Colour.' It's set in New Zealand in gold rush times---a seeming nonstarter for me, to put it mildly. And yet. And yet, this is one of the best written books I've read in decades. It's a page turner. It's got characters I'll never forget. I've read other books by Rose Tremain and liked them, but this spare, elegant, haunting story is her best.
I even have prejudices against whole eras. Take the Upper South in the twentieth century. Please.
So it was with incredulity that I found myself reading with snowballing fascination and joy 'The Colour.' It's set in New Zealand in gold rush times---a seeming nonstarter for me, to put it mildly. And yet. And yet, this is one of the best written books I've read in decades. It's a page turner. It's got characters I'll never forget. I've read other books by Rose Tremain and liked them, but this spare, elegant, haunting story is her best.
April 27, 2021
Very much in the vein of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries or Kate Greenville’s The Secret River, this tells the poignant tale of the Gold rush of the 1880s in New Zealand. We meet Harriet and Joshua, an ill matched couple from Britain who wish to try their luck. This was a well written and beautifully told tale.
July 15, 2018
This is the story of a marriage, of the New Zealand gold rush at the end of the 19th century, and the harsh lives facing English settlers who emigrated to New Zealand. Harriet Blackstone is a governess in her mid-30's who has married farmer, Joseph Blackstone in England. The couple head to New Zealand with Joseph's widowed mother, Lillian, to make a new life farming. Early in the book, I connected to Harriet and her plight of a loveless marriage.
Joseph is unloving, but a man with sexual appetites. He has little affection for his wife, which later turns to indifference, and then resentment. Life on their remote farm is difficult. The climate is unfamiliar and they are caught by surprise and unprepared for their first winter by unrelenting snow, which takes a toll on their meager farm and livestock. Joseph's and Harriet's response to these challenges are markedly different, and prescient of how the story will develop.
Joseph is a man full of urges - for sexual gratification, for wealth, and for success. When the Gold Rush builds, he leaves Harriet on their farm to travel to the site of gold claims. But Joseph is a man defeated by his urges. He is a failure at everything.Harriet, on the other hand, surpasses Joseph in many things. She has the patience he lacks, imagination, and a capacity to love. There are other characters, who at times occupy important roles in the story, but for me it was the story of Harriet.
It is a novel of emotion, and passion. Tremain is a writer who creates well- realized, sympathetic characters. Her novels contain a deep humanity, which I believe is the reason they resonate so deeply with me.
Joseph is unloving, but a man with sexual appetites. He has little affection for his wife, which later turns to indifference, and then resentment. Life on their remote farm is difficult. The climate is unfamiliar and they are caught by surprise and unprepared for their first winter by unrelenting snow, which takes a toll on their meager farm and livestock. Joseph's and Harriet's response to these challenges are markedly different, and prescient of how the story will develop.
Joseph is a man full of urges - for sexual gratification, for wealth, and for success. When the Gold Rush builds, he leaves Harriet on their farm to travel to the site of gold claims. But Joseph is a man defeated by his urges. He is a failure at everything.Harriet, on the other hand, surpasses Joseph in many things. She has the patience he lacks, imagination, and a capacity to love. There are other characters, who at times occupy important roles in the story, but for me it was the story of Harriet.
It is a novel of emotion, and passion. Tremain is a writer who creates well- realized, sympathetic characters. Her novels contain a deep humanity, which I believe is the reason they resonate so deeply with me.
March 6, 2008
I recently became curious about Rose Tremain when she featured in a "Good Fiction Guide: 4000 Great Books to Read" and I realised I only knew about her, never actually read anything by her. So I picked up The Colour, published in 2003 already, from my book club. I now see in the reviews that the book is considered "distinctly different" from other Tremain books. My original object thus defeated.
But... what a treat it was!
"Deliberate, forthright, careful and cool, it ranges across a riot of interior worlds." A reviewer's words, but spot-on for me.
Potentially melodramatic, but not at all in its delicate containment, the story swoops through the agony of the Gold Rush in New Zealand, covering a range of engagements between people from different backgrounds: settlers and gold-diggers from Norfolk, local Maori people and Chinese fortune-seekers, people looking for adventure, redemption and connection. The processes they go through (leaving places behind, abandoning lovers, betraying trust, making fresh starts, losing children) are described faithfully, painstakingly, but sensuously rather than pedantically. A great read.
But... what a treat it was!
"Deliberate, forthright, careful and cool, it ranges across a riot of interior worlds." A reviewer's words, but spot-on for me.
Potentially melodramatic, but not at all in its delicate containment, the story swoops through the agony of the Gold Rush in New Zealand, covering a range of engagements between people from different backgrounds: settlers and gold-diggers from Norfolk, local Maori people and Chinese fortune-seekers, people looking for adventure, redemption and connection. The processes they go through (leaving places behind, abandoning lovers, betraying trust, making fresh starts, losing children) are described faithfully, painstakingly, but sensuously rather than pedantically. A great read.
October 4, 2008
Little is known outside the South Pacific of New Zealand's mid-19th century gold rush that brought thousands of hopefuls to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The setting is as strong a character in this stark, beautiful and tragic novel as its human protagonists.
Tremain gracefully weaves a myriad of cultures- desperate and brave British immigrants, Maori mystics, hardy pakeha locals who watch with rueful humor at the missteps of the recently arrived, resourceful Chinese. These many characterizations could verge on cliches if it weren't for the care that Tremain takes in presenting these characters' stories. They become multi-dimensional, vital, passionate, maddening- much like the land where they have settled.
On a personal note: my husband and I returned last winter from nearly two years in New Zealand. We lived in the Canterbury plains and the coastal hills where Harriet, John and Lilian scrape out a life at Cob House. We spent many months working in vineyards near Amberley and Rangiora, watching the weather sweep in from the west, rising from the Tasman Sea and sweeping down from the Southern Alps. On the bitterest of winter days, a southerly would rush up from Antarctica, meet the warm Pacific air and dump buckets of rain on our heads. THe next day could bring hot, dry air from the northern tropics- never have I lived in place where the statement "Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes and it will change" was not in the least bit tongue in cheek- it was utterly true! Our days' work was gauged by what weather system was swirling from which direction.
New Zealand's terrain is vibrant & heartbreakingly beautiful. One hundred and fifty years on from Rose Tremain's setting there are places you can travel that feel as empty and wild, as inspiring and enchanting as they do in The Colour.
Tremain gracefully weaves a myriad of cultures- desperate and brave British immigrants, Maori mystics, hardy pakeha locals who watch with rueful humor at the missteps of the recently arrived, resourceful Chinese. These many characterizations could verge on cliches if it weren't for the care that Tremain takes in presenting these characters' stories. They become multi-dimensional, vital, passionate, maddening- much like the land where they have settled.
On a personal note: my husband and I returned last winter from nearly two years in New Zealand. We lived in the Canterbury plains and the coastal hills where Harriet, John and Lilian scrape out a life at Cob House. We spent many months working in vineyards near Amberley and Rangiora, watching the weather sweep in from the west, rising from the Tasman Sea and sweeping down from the Southern Alps. On the bitterest of winter days, a southerly would rush up from Antarctica, meet the warm Pacific air and dump buckets of rain on our heads. THe next day could bring hot, dry air from the northern tropics- never have I lived in place where the statement "Don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes and it will change" was not in the least bit tongue in cheek- it was utterly true! Our days' work was gauged by what weather system was swirling from which direction.
New Zealand's terrain is vibrant & heartbreakingly beautiful. One hundred and fifty years on from Rose Tremain's setting there are places you can travel that feel as empty and wild, as inspiring and enchanting as they do in The Colour.
May 3, 2017
“He stood without moving, waiting for the sun to come out again. It returned and sparkled on the water, dazzling him. He had to close his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, he’d forgotten the precise spot where the colour had revealed itself. Then he saw it once more, a minute patch of shining yellow dust.”
In the year 1864, Joseph Blackstone, his new wife Harriet and his mother Lillian staked a claim in southern New Zealand, in the hopes of building a farm and a new life. They faced many hardships in this new land, but none seemed harder than temptation. The day that Joseph Blackstone discovered “the colour” (aka gold) on his property was the day when a fork appeared in the road before them. That hopeful path became clouded as Blackstone gambled their lives on a fleeting chance of riches.
Rose Tremain presents a masterful story of hope, despair and self-determination in the New Zealand frontier. Her portrayal of the bride Harriet, with her longing to go out into the broader world, drew me in as a reader:
“She didn’t dismount but stayed in the saddle, looking from horizon to horizon and finding no one and nothing but herself and the horse and their shadows of clouds. A bird turned above her, against the cold blue of the sky. Harriet saw it as the majestic witness of a sudden happiness, and she knew that in the time to come she would remember it.”
When Harriet longs to run wild in this new land she has embraced, she finds that she is constricted by a marriage that is nothing like she hoped it would be. The land, the characters, the history and the marvelous story that Tremain presents makes The Colour a novel to be savored and remembered long after it is finished.
In the year 1864, Joseph Blackstone, his new wife Harriet and his mother Lillian staked a claim in southern New Zealand, in the hopes of building a farm and a new life. They faced many hardships in this new land, but none seemed harder than temptation. The day that Joseph Blackstone discovered “the colour” (aka gold) on his property was the day when a fork appeared in the road before them. That hopeful path became clouded as Blackstone gambled their lives on a fleeting chance of riches.
Rose Tremain presents a masterful story of hope, despair and self-determination in the New Zealand frontier. Her portrayal of the bride Harriet, with her longing to go out into the broader world, drew me in as a reader:
“She didn’t dismount but stayed in the saddle, looking from horizon to horizon and finding no one and nothing but herself and the horse and their shadows of clouds. A bird turned above her, against the cold blue of the sky. Harriet saw it as the majestic witness of a sudden happiness, and she knew that in the time to come she would remember it.”
When Harriet longs to run wild in this new land she has embraced, she finds that she is constricted by a marriage that is nothing like she hoped it would be. The land, the characters, the history and the marvelous story that Tremain presents makes The Colour a novel to be savored and remembered long after it is finished.
October 7, 2021
Ich interessiere mich sehr für Geschichte, doch leider gibt es viel zu wenige anspruchsvolle historische Romane. Die Farbe der Träume stellt eine dieser Ausnahmen dar.
Die Handlung spielt im 19. Jahrhundert in Neuseeland. Harriet hat ihr trostloses Leben als Gouvernante in England hinter sich gelassen und versucht gemeinsam mit ihrem Mann Joseph und dessen Mutter Lillian ihr Glück in der Kolonie. Joseph ist sehr starrsinnig, hört nicht auf die Ratschläge anderer, baut das neue Haus an der falschen Stelle. Dann findet er zufällig Gold in einem Bach. Er wird vom Goldfieber gepackt, lässt Frau und Mutter alleine zurück und macht sich auf den Weg, um große Reichtümer zu finden. Nach Lillians baldigem Tod folgt Harriet ihrem Mann zu den Goldgräberfeldern.
Ich wehre mich ein bisschen dagegen, das Buch als Schmöker und Harriet als starke Frau zu bezeichnen, das diese Begriffe gerade im Zusammenhang mit historischen Romanen sehr negativ besetzt sind. Doch beide beschreiben das Buch sehr gut, allerdings in einem äußerst positiven Sinn. Die Geschichte wird ohne Kitsch erzählt und Harriet ist wirklich eine bemerkenswerte Frau.
Einen kleinen Einblick in die Welt der Maori gibt es auch. Sehr spannend, denn nun weiß ich, was "Maori" eigentlich heißt: "normale" Leute, im Gegensatz zu den weißen Siedlern.
Die Handlung spielt im 19. Jahrhundert in Neuseeland. Harriet hat ihr trostloses Leben als Gouvernante in England hinter sich gelassen und versucht gemeinsam mit ihrem Mann Joseph und dessen Mutter Lillian ihr Glück in der Kolonie. Joseph ist sehr starrsinnig, hört nicht auf die Ratschläge anderer, baut das neue Haus an der falschen Stelle. Dann findet er zufällig Gold in einem Bach. Er wird vom Goldfieber gepackt, lässt Frau und Mutter alleine zurück und macht sich auf den Weg, um große Reichtümer zu finden. Nach Lillians baldigem Tod folgt Harriet ihrem Mann zu den Goldgräberfeldern.
Ich wehre mich ein bisschen dagegen, das Buch als Schmöker und Harriet als starke Frau zu bezeichnen, das diese Begriffe gerade im Zusammenhang mit historischen Romanen sehr negativ besetzt sind. Doch beide beschreiben das Buch sehr gut, allerdings in einem äußerst positiven Sinn. Die Geschichte wird ohne Kitsch erzählt und Harriet ist wirklich eine bemerkenswerte Frau.
Einen kleinen Einblick in die Welt der Maori gibt es auch. Sehr spannend, denn nun weiß ich, was "Maori" eigentlich heißt: "normale" Leute, im Gegensatz zu den weißen Siedlern.
November 30, 2016
Beautiful story. Easy read.
July 11, 2011
Strong women may not usually capture the centre of attention in a wild west survival story - it's a men's world after all. Yet, Harriet deserves her spotlight! Set against the background of New Zealand's gold rush in the 1860s, Rose Tremain has crafted a memorable, vividly coloured historical drama, that revolves around immigrants Joseph Blackstone and his new wife, Harriet. New Zealand's spectacular landscapes and the country's havoc creating extreme weather vagaries, powerfully evoked throughout the novel, are merged as an integral part into the story and adding to its sense of drama.
The young couple, together with Joseph's mother, Lillian, embark on a farm life that none are prepared for. Tensions abound as the precariousness of their survival becomes evident, in particular during their first winter in the wilds around Christchurch. Three isolated and solitary people, each is preoccupied with attempting to overcome unresolved issues of their past life back in Norfolk, England. Joseph hides some shameful crime from his former life that is revealed to the reader in small portions. His secret is isolating him even more from his wife. He becomes wary of his wife's positive attitude and growing self-confidence - "a woman as tall as he". When, by their creek, he discovers a few specks of gold, the 'colour', he is ecstatic and frantically searches for more. While no more gold is found and he manages to hide his find from his wife, his obsession can no longer be contained. He abandons the faltering farm and declares that joining the new wave of gold diggers on the other side of the country will be their financial rescue and salvation.
Harriet, while still expecting ongoing domestic contentment, has also been changing. Discovering Joseph's gold secret adds to her increasing disenchantment with her current life. Tremain sensitively captures Harriet's character and evolving personality. She conveys the new sense of confidence that sees Harriet blossom and explore new and sustaining friendships in the neighbourhood. Eventually, the young woman decides that seeking clarification in her relationship to Joseph will be essential for her own future. She embarks on a journey across the mountain to the South Island to find her husband among the gold diggers. The author's description of Harriet, the solitary woman on a horse, in the midst of a wild bunch of rough and reckless diggers is vivid and shows Tremain's deep empathy for the fate of the young woman.
Harriet had agreed to undertake a special task during her solitary quest across the country: her young friend Edwin, gifted with unusual spiritual powers and in something resembling a mental dialogue with his former Maori nanny, Pare, needs Harriet to find her in the mountains. It is a life and death situation. While the sub-plot of Edwin and Pare moves the story possibly a bit too much into magical realism, the rest of the narrative is very strongly grounded in the realities of the time. Tremain's detailed description of the desolate living conditions that the diggers endure, their fixation to find "a homeward bounder" of gold that would relieve them, in one stroke, from all their worries and suffering, makes gloomy reading. Some characters, though, stand out, exquisitely captured by the author: young Will Sefton, a street urchin transported into the diggers' camps and especially Chen Pao Yi. Pao Yi came from China to seek his fortune, less as a gold digger than as a gardener and supplier of essentials to the different camps along the river. His life stands in stark contrast to that of the diggers. And then, one day, a sudden natural disaster threatens the survival of all those digging and living along the river and its vicinity... There is a moral undertone to the novel: in the end, those individuals who are least obsessed with the 'colour' have the author's attention and they have the best chance to gain the most in terms of humanity, dignity and happiness.
The young couple, together with Joseph's mother, Lillian, embark on a farm life that none are prepared for. Tensions abound as the precariousness of their survival becomes evident, in particular during their first winter in the wilds around Christchurch. Three isolated and solitary people, each is preoccupied with attempting to overcome unresolved issues of their past life back in Norfolk, England. Joseph hides some shameful crime from his former life that is revealed to the reader in small portions. His secret is isolating him even more from his wife. He becomes wary of his wife's positive attitude and growing self-confidence - "a woman as tall as he". When, by their creek, he discovers a few specks of gold, the 'colour', he is ecstatic and frantically searches for more. While no more gold is found and he manages to hide his find from his wife, his obsession can no longer be contained. He abandons the faltering farm and declares that joining the new wave of gold diggers on the other side of the country will be their financial rescue and salvation.
Harriet, while still expecting ongoing domestic contentment, has also been changing. Discovering Joseph's gold secret adds to her increasing disenchantment with her current life. Tremain sensitively captures Harriet's character and evolving personality. She conveys the new sense of confidence that sees Harriet blossom and explore new and sustaining friendships in the neighbourhood. Eventually, the young woman decides that seeking clarification in her relationship to Joseph will be essential for her own future. She embarks on a journey across the mountain to the South Island to find her husband among the gold diggers. The author's description of Harriet, the solitary woman on a horse, in the midst of a wild bunch of rough and reckless diggers is vivid and shows Tremain's deep empathy for the fate of the young woman.
Harriet had agreed to undertake a special task during her solitary quest across the country: her young friend Edwin, gifted with unusual spiritual powers and in something resembling a mental dialogue with his former Maori nanny, Pare, needs Harriet to find her in the mountains. It is a life and death situation. While the sub-plot of Edwin and Pare moves the story possibly a bit too much into magical realism, the rest of the narrative is very strongly grounded in the realities of the time. Tremain's detailed description of the desolate living conditions that the diggers endure, their fixation to find "a homeward bounder" of gold that would relieve them, in one stroke, from all their worries and suffering, makes gloomy reading. Some characters, though, stand out, exquisitely captured by the author: young Will Sefton, a street urchin transported into the diggers' camps and especially Chen Pao Yi. Pao Yi came from China to seek his fortune, less as a gold digger than as a gardener and supplier of essentials to the different camps along the river. His life stands in stark contrast to that of the diggers. And then, one day, a sudden natural disaster threatens the survival of all those digging and living along the river and its vicinity... There is a moral undertone to the novel: in the end, those individuals who are least obsessed with the 'colour' have the author's attention and they have the best chance to gain the most in terms of humanity, dignity and happiness.
August 7, 2012
The Colour is a well-written, engaging work of historical fiction, set in 1860's New Zealand. It reminded me of Allende's Daughter of Fortune and Smiley's The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton, which are set around the same time period (although in different parts of the world) and have some similar characters and situations, but without being so similar as to feel derivative. Like those books, it also has some plotting issues, but is good enough to be worth a read anyway.
Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone arrive in New Zealand intending to start over; each married the other hoping for a new life, although they're barely acquainted. With Joseph's mother Lilian, they buy some land, build a house out of cob, and intend to start farming, but events don't go as planned. Then a gold rush comes along and changes everything.
The Colour is on the more literary end of historical fiction: while it tells an engaging story, the pacing is not especially quick and much time is spent on character development, which is well-done. Joseph is fairly useless, but Tremain does a good job of writing him in such a way that readers can sympathize somewhat (where, if we didn't have his viewpoint, he would likely come across as an antagonist). Harriet is more traditionally likeable, but complex. Lilian might at first seem like a stock obnoxious mother-in-law character, but soon becomes much more well-rounded.
The historical detail is worked into the story well, and there's a good sense of place with some evocative descriptions (although one key setting--the Hurunui gorge--is left almost entirely to the reader's imagination, as if it were intended to be more metaphorical than real). And the writing is good. There's something opaque about it, though: scenes that seem intended to have some great symbolic or metaphorical meaning that was not evident to me. Maybe the point was that life doesn't always make sense or turn out well--it's a melancholy book--but there's something rather distancing about Tremain's vision or her writing style that I didn't feel I entirely understood.
My other issue with the book is plot-related. Toward the end, a romance comes out of nowhere, as if the author suddenly realized the book had no love story and threw one in, but without bothering to integrate it into the rest of the story. And there are a couple of secondary characters who have their own minor plotlines, but don't contribute much, seemingly there more to add ethnic color than anything else.
Overall though, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it as a good work of historical fiction--if more melancholy and less willing to give up its secrets than the typical fare.
Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone arrive in New Zealand intending to start over; each married the other hoping for a new life, although they're barely acquainted. With Joseph's mother Lilian, they buy some land, build a house out of cob, and intend to start farming, but events don't go as planned. Then a gold rush comes along and changes everything.
The Colour is on the more literary end of historical fiction: while it tells an engaging story, the pacing is not especially quick and much time is spent on character development, which is well-done. Joseph is fairly useless, but Tremain does a good job of writing him in such a way that readers can sympathize somewhat (where, if we didn't have his viewpoint, he would likely come across as an antagonist). Harriet is more traditionally likeable, but complex. Lilian might at first seem like a stock obnoxious mother-in-law character, but soon becomes much more well-rounded.
The historical detail is worked into the story well, and there's a good sense of place with some evocative descriptions (although one key setting--the Hurunui gorge--is left almost entirely to the reader's imagination, as if it were intended to be more metaphorical than real). And the writing is good. There's something opaque about it, though: scenes that seem intended to have some great symbolic or metaphorical meaning that was not evident to me. Maybe the point was that life doesn't always make sense or turn out well--it's a melancholy book--but there's something rather distancing about Tremain's vision or her writing style that I didn't feel I entirely understood.
My other issue with the book is plot-related. Toward the end, a romance comes out of nowhere, as if the author suddenly realized the book had no love story and threw one in, but without bothering to integrate it into the rest of the story. And there are a couple of secondary characters who have their own minor plotlines, but don't contribute much, seemingly there more to add ethnic color than anything else.
Overall though, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it as a good work of historical fiction--if more melancholy and less willing to give up its secrets than the typical fare.
October 6, 2018
I read this book a few years before I emigrated to New Zealand. I'm fairly sure it didn't feature in my decision, but reading it again now it is fascinating just how accurate it is, how wonderfully it captures settler life in Otago. Things actually haven't changed that much here in many ways; the past is always present here. Besides the evocation of New Zealand, this is a wonderfully written book in every way. Lyrical, tragic, it's hard to put down and is the sort of story that is in your mind when you are doing mundane tasks. I feel an immense sympathy for poor Lilian, dragged from her Norfolk home by her son Joseph, dependent upon him after the death of her husband, and constantly pining for that old life and her garden and trying desperately to glue together her precious china that got broken on the voyage over.
As ever, I'll update when done.
I finished this one last night and highly recommend it. You don't have to be interested in New Zealand to find this a fascinating story with genuine, original insights about the human condition. If you do know anything about NZ then it will fascinate you, as it's spot on about early settler life. I've docked one star because it's not the perfect novel--I found it consciously episodic in places as if the author wanted to cover the whole spectrum of life in Otago so had the obligatory 'Maori story' the 'Chinese experience' the 'wealthy English settlers' the 'gold diggers' etc. I felt she struggled slightly to integrate all these stories in a satisfactory way at times--I personally found the story of Pare the Maori boring, archetypal and irrelevant to the far more interesting story of Harriet and Joseph. But for all that, I highly recommend this novel as something a bit different and very engaging.
As ever, I'll update when done.
I finished this one last night and highly recommend it. You don't have to be interested in New Zealand to find this a fascinating story with genuine, original insights about the human condition. If you do know anything about NZ then it will fascinate you, as it's spot on about early settler life. I've docked one star because it's not the perfect novel--I found it consciously episodic in places as if the author wanted to cover the whole spectrum of life in Otago so had the obligatory 'Maori story' the 'Chinese experience' the 'wealthy English settlers' the 'gold diggers' etc. I felt she struggled slightly to integrate all these stories in a satisfactory way at times--I personally found the story of Pare the Maori boring, archetypal and irrelevant to the far more interesting story of Harriet and Joseph. But for all that, I highly recommend this novel as something a bit different and very engaging.
December 10, 2015
Harriet and Joesph and Joseph's mother Lilian have arrived in NZ from England to improve their fortunes, all three in need of a new start, for reasons that are slowly revealed throughout the novel.
They build a house of cob and try to adapt to the new conditions in this untamed country where nothing can be taken for granted. They will learn numerous harsh lessons and encounter challenges, temptations and people unlike those they have known in the past.
Joseph will be lured away by "the colour" which is the name they refer to for gold, as more and more men arrive seeking their fortune in the fastest way possible, a lottery of digging and hard work, with no guarantee of success.
The storytelling is quietly gripping with a subplot concerning the neighbou's son Edwin and his Mari nanny Pare, perhaps the only part of the book that didn't sit well with me, it seemed a little fantastical, bordering on magic realism, not the legend based and practical Maoridom I grew up with and was taught, I found this depiction of a native character a little patronising, reminiscent I guess of the colonial attitude of that era.
They build a house of cob and try to adapt to the new conditions in this untamed country where nothing can be taken for granted. They will learn numerous harsh lessons and encounter challenges, temptations and people unlike those they have known in the past.
Joseph will be lured away by "the colour" which is the name they refer to for gold, as more and more men arrive seeking their fortune in the fastest way possible, a lottery of digging and hard work, with no guarantee of success.
The storytelling is quietly gripping with a subplot concerning the neighbou's son Edwin and his Mari nanny Pare, perhaps the only part of the book that didn't sit well with me, it seemed a little fantastical, bordering on magic realism, not the legend based and practical Maoridom I grew up with and was taught, I found this depiction of a native character a little patronising, reminiscent I guess of the colonial attitude of that era.
July 29, 2012
The saving grace of historical fiction is that thanks to the subject matter it is almost always interesting, despite the frequent lack of any literary merit.
It would be an unfair exaggeration to say that The Colour lacks any literary merit, but it wasn't great, to tell the truth. The plot was interesting enough: a Joseph Blackstone takes his wife, Harriet and mother, Lilian, to New Zealand at the time of the Gold Rush to start a new life. However, their small world of cows, trees and gardening changes forever when Joseph discovers gold as he digs out a pond on their land. As he becomes obsessed with 'the colour', Harriet drifts further and further away from him.
I'd heard good things about Rose Tremain, so I was disappointed in this. It was frankly mediocre. A clichéd, unoriginal storyline; one-dimensional, unconvincing characters; not particularly beautifully written; there's no real reason to read this book. It's entertaining, but there are so many more worthy books out there, I wish I hadn't wasted my time.
It would be an unfair exaggeration to say that The Colour lacks any literary merit, but it wasn't great, to tell the truth. The plot was interesting enough: a Joseph Blackstone takes his wife, Harriet and mother, Lilian, to New Zealand at the time of the Gold Rush to start a new life. However, their small world of cows, trees and gardening changes forever when Joseph discovers gold as he digs out a pond on their land. As he becomes obsessed with 'the colour', Harriet drifts further and further away from him.
I'd heard good things about Rose Tremain, so I was disappointed in this. It was frankly mediocre. A clichéd, unoriginal storyline; one-dimensional, unconvincing characters; not particularly beautifully written; there's no real reason to read this book. It's entertaining, but there are so many more worthy books out there, I wish I hadn't wasted my time.
September 5, 2016
This was a mostly sad and sobering story. The writing was well done, but the storyline itself was rather depressing - life in New Zealand in the 1800s was difficult - for men and especially for women. Life was tough, love was rare, hope was deceptive, pleasure was taken in whatever form offered.
I quite liked aspects of it, but I took off half a star for its utter bleakness, so 2.5★
I’m undecided as to whether I would read more of Rose Tremain’s works or not - they do seem to have a similar bleak theme running through them. I won’t be reading any more for a while, anyway!
I quite liked aspects of it, but I took off half a star for its utter bleakness, so 2.5★
I’m undecided as to whether I would read more of Rose Tremain’s works or not - they do seem to have a similar bleak theme running through them. I won’t be reading any more for a while, anyway!
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