own generation inherited. These three books form a loose trilogy – "The Colonial Trilogy" – about the first three generations of white settlement in Australia, and what that shared black/white history means for contemporary Australians. The themes of the three books reach beyond Australia: all are widely read in other countries where colonialism has left a problematic legacy. A Room Made of Leaves returns to this subject and can be seen as a fourth novel in this series. It takes as its starting-point the life of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of early wool baron John Macarthur. It tells the story of that remarkable woman, but its underlying theme is about the way false stories can come to replace the truth. Grenville frequently does extensive research for her novels, often using historical or other sources as the starting-point for the work of the imagination. She says of her books that they are "sometimes inspired by historical events, but they are imaginative constructs, not an attempt to write history". Some years after her mother died, Grenville put together a book about her, based on the memoirs and recordings her mother left. The result is One Life: My Mother's Story, a book about a woman born in 1912 who rode the waves of tumultuous change that happened over the course of her life. Grenville's most recent non-fiction book is about the health problems that can be caused by the synthetic fragrances that are all around us: The Case Against Fragrance. In this book she recounts the difficulties she has personally experienced due to fragrances in the environment and discusses the latest research findings by Dr Anne Steinemann and others. Awards and nominations Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA) in 2008 Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New South Wales in 2010 Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sydney in 2012 Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Macquarie University in 2013 The Dixson Medal awarded by the Library Council of New South Wales in 2014 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature from the Australia Council in 2017 Officer of the Order of Australia in 2018 Prizes 1984 – The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for Lilian's Story 1995 – Victorian Premier's Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction for Dark Places 2001 – Orange Prize for Fiction for The Idea of Perfection 2006 – Commonwealth Writers' Prize for The Secret River 2006 –