18 NOVEMBER 2006, Page 49

C AROLINE M OOREHEAD Two very different books, one a novel, the

other a history, but each one proof that good storytelling is a true art. Kate Grenville uses fiction in The Secret River (Canongate, £7.99) to recount the unhappy tale of Australia’s first convict settlers and their murderous encounters with the Aborigines; while King, Kaiser, Tsar (John Murray, £25) is Catrine Clay’s fascinating account of the role played by the troubled and rivalrous relationships between the three royal cousins in the lead up to the first world war. In both books, the marvellous telling is all.