Timberlake Wertenbaker

Timberlake Wertenbaker is a playwright and screenwriter known for her work on themes of social justice, freedom, and cultural conflict. Her most renowned play, 'Our Country's Good', won the Laurence Olivier Award for Play of the Year in 1988 and has been influential in British theatre. Wertenbaker's work often explores the transformative power of theatre and the human capacity for change and redemption.

Books

This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

  1. 1. Our Country’s Good

    Set in the late 18th century, the narrative revolves around a group of British convicts and their naval officers sent to an Australian penal colony. Amidst the harsh conditions, an ambitious young lieutenant decides to put on a play with the convicts as a means to rehabilitate them and raise morale. The story explores themes of redemption, the transformative power of art, and the complexities of the human condition as the convicts rehearse and navigate their personal struggles, social dynamics, and the rigid class structures imposed by their captors. The play within the book becomes a catalyst for change, challenging the characters' perceptions of punishment, civilization, and what it means to be a 'good' person in a society that has branded them as outcasts.

    The 8359th Greatest Book of All Time