It was predictable that the adaptation of Kate Grenville's novel The Secret River on ABC TV would stir up old arguments about fiction's distortion of historical facts. Fortunately, most comment has focused on the power of the two-part series itself, starring English actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Australian Sarah Snook as colonial settlers William and Sal Thornhill. Skipping the novel's opening in London, the action begins as convicts land in a Fatal Shore-style gulag and moves to the Hawkesbury River's beautiful but threatening sandstone landscapes. In the second part, airing this Sunday, the unbroken tension climaxes inevitably in conflict between farmers and Aboriginal owners of the land; there's sympathy for both beleaguered sides. Watch for the wonderful scene in which Will and Sal lie in their hut arguing over fading memories of London streets while the Dharug people's corroboree fills the air with thrumming music. It's a straighter translation than Andrew Bovell and Neil Armfield's excellent play, which brought the Dharug to the fore, but still has them speaking their language, adding authenticity and misunderstanding. If you miss the broadcast, the DVD is released next week (ABC, $29.95) and shows behind the scenes of director Daina Reid's inventive, rain-sodden production. I hope this sends people back to the novel and to Grenville's overlooked memoir Searching for the Secret River.

HARDY HITS THE MOVIES

Another literary adaptation, of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd, opens in cinemas on Thursday. People of my age and older will recall John Schlesinger's glamorous 1967 film with the huge cast of Julie Christie (in too much eye make-up), Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch. The new version is even better, written by David Nicholls (One Day) and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. The expressive Carey Mulligan plays Bathsheba Everdene, the woman torn between her independence and three men, perfectly played by Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge. There's a contemporary edge to Bathsheba's strength and her fabulous clothing. Hardy's melodrama still irritates me – as it does in his novels – and in the end the film is a romance in which the best man wins. But the great scenes of leaping sheep and sexual swordplay, and the Dorset countryside are brilliantly used. Watch for clever details, such as a poster on a wall naming Casterbridge, the fictional town in Hardy's later novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, which mentions some characters from this book.

BUY BOOKS DIRECTLY

From this week, online readers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald can click through from our book reviews to Booktopia, the Australian online bookseller, and buy books directly. While we champion the importance of our bricks-and-mortar bookshops, we also support Booktopia as the local competition to Amazon's global business. Booktopia's Sydney warehouse is an impressive operation that stocks about 80,000 titles (plus e-books, DVDs and CDs) and ships them all over Australia within three days. Founded in 2004 by the energetic businessman and book collector Tony Nash, with his brother and brother-in-law, the company has won many awards and was named online book retailer of the year at the Australian Book Industry Awards in May. We are pleased to bring its excellent service to our readers.