Super Short Summary

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville follows Daniel Rooke, an astronomically inclined Royal Marine officer, who journeys with the 1788 First Fleet to New South Wales where he forms significant relationships with the Indigenous Cadigal people, particularly a young girl named Tagaran. Through these connections, he confronts the moral complexities of colonialism and his role in it. This novel contains themes of cultural conflict, and physical violence against Indigenous people and settlers.