What does it mean to be descended from colonists, whether free settlers or convicts? To be on land taken from its Aboriginal owners? Best-selling author Kate Grenville asked herself those questions, and many more. She shares her experience of doing so in the rawly honest Unsettled: A journey through time and place.

After years of writing, much of which has been related to family stories, including novels inspired by her colonial ancestors, Kate decided to take a pilgrimage to places in her family history. Her goal was to look behind the stories as she knew them, and as told in written history, to discover what really happened and the impact on First Nations people.

Unsettled is a memoir of that pilgrimage, told as a kind of meditation on the past, present and future. It shares what Kate already knew from her own family lore and research, what she finds on her journey, and how she feels as she uncovers the truth.

When you read Unsettled you might, like me, feel the need to sit with the knowledge of it for a while, to let it settle. To consider how your own family history fits with the truth of colonial and First Nations history, and decide what to do with that knowledge. 

Unsettled highlights how we twist, ‘muffle’ and spin language and the documenting of history. And reminds us that although we can’t change the past, truth-telling is important and we shouldn’t ignore or forget uncomfortable realities.

Thoughtful and insightful, Unsettled is an eloquent, lyrical description of searching for understanding and reconciliation. It will undoubtedly put a new lens on how you think.