The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville

Daniel Rooke grew up a lonely child.  He was bright, much brighter than his classmates and shunned by his classmates.  He rarely spoke.  His salvation occurs when the local doctor notices his intelligence and arranges for him to receive a place at the Portsmouth Naval Academy.  There his intelligence is seen as the positive thing it is and he becomes entranced with astronomy.  But there is no place for another astronomer when Rooke is ready to find work so he instead becomes a lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

After his one encounter with battle, Rooke is left with what would be called PTSD today.  He is at loose ends when he hears of an opportunity.  It is 1788 and an excursion is being planned to the uncharted territory of New South Wales.  The king has claimed sovernity but the land is uncharted and nothing is known of the people, animals or food of the area.  The trip will last for three years.

Rooke has used his astronomical knowledge in the Navy as a navigator and he continues on this trip.  Once the ship has landed at what they name Botany Bay, he moves away from the main camp and sets up an astronomical and scientific observation station.  He prefers this lonely life, living by himself and only seeing his military companions once a week for dinner.

As time goes on, the expedition tries to make contact with the natives.  Of course, no one can speak their language but rudimentary attempts are made.  The natives start to visit Rooke at his station and he begins a study of their language and soon can converse with them.  He develops a strong relationship with a young girl of around ten.  As the military commander decides to take stronger and stronger steps to be in command of the native population, Rooke finds himself in conflict between his feeling for the natives and his obligation as a military man to follow the change of command.  This conflict leads to a confrontation that will change everything.

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's most famous authors.  Previous novels have won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize as well as the Orange Prize and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  Her knowledge of the landscape and native population allows her to visualize what it must have been like for the first English military settlers.  She can clearly see and knows the history of the relationship between the native people who lived there and the new inhabitants and how that relationship progressed.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.