The Colour
by Rose Tremain
Nomination: Dublin Longlist 2005, Women’s Prize Finalist 2004
Date Read: May 12, 2023
The Colour is almost an epic in mini form. Joseph Blackwell, leaving behind a shady past and the death of a woman he had ravished, marries Harriet Salt in England and they immediately set sail to New Zealand. There, both Joseph and Harriet are determined to begin their lives again on cheap land and rich dreams. Arriving with them is Lillian, Joseph’s mother.
Harriet is a unique woman in that she has an adventurous spirit and is just as excited as her husband to begin this new life. After their temporary home is built and they have all settled into its meager confines, Harriet slowly begins to realize that she does not love Joseph nor will she ever. The same is true for Joseph. Nevertheless they persevere on their farm.
While Joseph is fishing one day, he observes the “colour,” gold on the banks of the stream that crosses their land. He knows there’s a gold rush sweeping through New Zealand and this small reward causes an obsession to grow so large that he leaves Harriet and the farm to go mine for gold where every other Tom, Dick and Harry has set up camp. Harriet isn’t that sad to see him go.
Not long after Joseph’s departure, Lilian passes away and their cob house is decimated in a storm in quick succession. Now with no family to look after and no home, Harriet sets out to find Joseph to tell him of his mother’s death. Not long after arriving in the mining town where she knows him to be, she finds Joseph. To say he is nonplussed to see her is an understatement.
Having nowhere else to go, she purchases a tent and other supplies to stay for a while until she can figure out where to go next. While exploring the environs of the camp, she stumbles on the most beautiful garden created by Pao Yi, a China man who sells vegetables to the miners. She is startled at how this beautiful garden could be so lovingly tended amidst such a harsh landscape. While still in awe and continuing her wanders, she discovers gold just sitting on the shoreline. This spot is about two miles upriver from where Joseph is mining.
Harriet returns to Joseph and tells him about the gold. They devise a plan to ensure a stampede doesn’t form and everyone else in the camp doesn’t follow them up to the find. Harriet sets out as if she is leaving the camp, stating it definitely isn’t any place for a woman. She hikes the two miles upriver and sets up camp to begin mining on her own. Although Joseph doesn’t totally trust her, he doesn’t have much choice.
Having worked for only a few short weeks, Harriet is suddenly overcome by what they call the “fresh.” I’m still not sure what it means but I interpreted it as snow melt? The fresh floods the river, wiping out everything on the banks or anything nearby. Harriet is caught in the flood and nearly drowns if it weren’t for Pao Yi, who comes to her rescue. He carries her to his hut and dries her off, cares for her while she’s ill and makes sure she recovers her temperature. As adults do, they become lovers, enjoying the cold weather and the warmth of each other’s bodies and company.
Up against his hut is a cave that gold is also discovered inside of. Harriet and Pao Yi are not so ignorant as to know that society will judge them harshly for trying to be a couple. When the thaw comes and spring is upon them, they mine the gold from the cave and split the proceeds. Pao Yi returns to China. Harriet returns to the farm Joseph had originally purchased but bringing with her a child by Pao Yi.
As for Joseph, he believes Harriet died in the fresh and having found her stash of gold she mined in those two weeks on her own, he returns to England to set his past right and attempt to make amends. Being the snivelly coward that he is, he never quite brings himself to do it.
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