Wanting
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It is 1844. In the remote penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land, a barefoot Aboriginal girl sits for a portrait in a red silk dress. She is Mathinna, the adopted daughter of the island’s governor, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, and the subject of a grand experiment in civilization -- one that will determine whether science, Christianity and reason can be imposed in the place of savagery, impulse and desire.
A quarter of a century passes. Somewhere in the Arctic, Sir John Franklin has disappeared with his crew and two ships on an expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage. The people of England are horrified by reports of cannibalism filtering back from search parties, no one more so than the most celebrated novelist of the day, Charles Dickens, for whom Franklin’s story becomes a means to plumb the frozen depths of his own life.
As several lives become joined by unexpected events and tragedies, Wanting transforms into a stunning contemporary meditation on the ways in which desire -- and its denial -- shape all our lives.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
Wanting
“A haunting and powerful story... Mr. Flanagan does a magical job of conjuring his native Tasmania as it must have appeared to english settlers... And he enlivens his discursive narrative with some dazzling set pieces.”
-- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
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“A compelling novel about love and loss.”
-- Elle Canada
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The Unknown Terrorist
New Page 1 A provocative thriller of a post-9/11 world, from the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize–winning author of Gould’s Book of Fish and The Sound of One Hand Clapping. Gina Davies, a.k.a. “The Doll” is a 26- year-old pole dancer at the Chairman’s Lounge night club....
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Wanting
From the author of the bestselling Gould’s Book of Fish , The Sound of One Hand Clapping and The Unknown Terrorist comes a haunting meditation on love, loss and the way life is finally determined never by reason, but only ever by wanting. In 19th-century Van Diemen’s Land, a young...
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The Unknown Terrorist
Richard Flanagan’s devastating parable has drawn international acclaim for brilliantly capturing the post-9/11 world. In this explosive novel, Flanagan holds a mirror to contemporary society, and in its terrifying reflection we see the image of the Doll, a 26-year-old pole...
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