Review 188: The Colour

The Colour by Rose Tremain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This historical novel is set in the mid-1800’s, a newly married couple with his mother emigrate from England to New Zealand. They are a slightly older couple but determined to start a new life. Harriet wanted to leave being a governess, while Joseph Blackstone had to leave. We discover early on his mother was also joining them due to the untimely, and embarrassing, death of her husband that left her with nothing but debts. In this new land they homestead and try to become a family.

We soon find out Joseph keeps too many secrets, even when he finds gold dust in their river. Soon the gold fever is sweeping New Zealand and Joseph must go to the latest site on the other side of the mountains. Harriet by this time is happy to have her time alone, still longing for her adventure.

The book drew me in but slowly became less soothing than it started out. And there is part where it was just odd, magical realism you could call it, with the neighbor boy and a native person, Pare. They became connected and the boy knew things he shouldn’t.

I enjoyed Harriet’s character and the neighbor’s, the Orchards (Toby, Dorothy and the boy Edwin). It took nearly a day to reach their house, so calling them neighbor’s may be stretching it, yet the land was nearly empty. It felt like accurate descriptions of a mining camp. One thought I kept having was, how much money did Joseph have? It seemed like he kept spending money when he had none.