In the one tumultuous day, Ch’anzu loses hir job and finds wife Scarlet in bed with a stranger. As life unexpectedly spirals out of control, Ch’anzu turns to hir charismatic Aunt Maé for comfort and wisdom, and makes the bold move to work on a project in Serengotti, a migrant African outpost in rural Australia.
In a novel haunted by the strangeness and yearnings of a displaced community – both beautiful and fractured – Ch’anzu is forced to confront hir many demons. Back in the city, brother Tex has gone missing. In Serengotti violence and infidelity simmer.
This is a novel bathed in sensuous, original language, a love letter to the strong women who bind families together despite everything. It’s also a tender remembrance of the many who haven’t or couldn’t survive the dislocations and tragedies of their turbulent pasts.
‘Thrillingly alive, visceral, funny, and poetic, this is a story of what happens after your world falls apart, and you are forced to piece together a new one — a bittersweet tale of love, desire and kin, of what we carry and what holds us afloat. A novel that dances with a haunted grace, with characters who will sear themselves into your memory.’ — David Carlin, award-winning author and editor of eight books, including The After-Normal, Our Father Who Wasn’t There and A–Z of Creative Writing Method
‘An energetic, provocative exploration of racial identity, sexuality and the crucial need for community. The novel brilliantly combines crime and romance, gritty realist dialogue and sumptuous language, caustic humour and emotional gravity, to evoke different and unexpected ways of seeing and being in the world.’ — Susan Midalia, award-winning author of A History of the Beanbag, An Unknown Sky and Feet to the Star
‘Bacon’s voice is unique. Her African Australian perspective resonates … Characters living on the edge, love lost and found, here’s a story of striking honesty.’ — Anne Maria Nicholson, journalist and author of Poker Protocol, Pliny’s Warning and Weeping Water
