Join us at The Book Cow when we welcome Katherine Johnson to celebrate the launch of her inaugural Australian Fiction Prize-winning novel, Every Wild Soul. Katherine will be joined in conversation for this event by fellow author Karen Viggers.

ABOUT THE BOOK

On Tasmania's wild and remote Maria Island, eighteen-year-old Min is trying to break free from her controlling, overly protective father, the island's head ranger. Her unlikely ally is Werner, an eccentric, homeless biologist who has always taught her to care for the imperilled natural world around her - even as it sets them against Piers, her father, who has his own plans. When Lucie, a journalist haunted by her family's role in the thylacine's extinction, arrives from London to investigate the island's Tasmanian devil conservation project, she is drawn into the island's rare beauty and mysteries, discovering a community grappling with the tension between progress and preservation, care and control. After a tempestuous storm sees a stranger wash ashore, a chain of events is set in motion that ends in a shocking and mysterious death, only weeks later.

A breathtakingly beautiful and gripping exploration of humanity's connection to the wild - and the hope that can be born from even the darkest of times - Every Wild Soul is an absorbing and evocative exploration of resilience, rewilding and healing, a story with nature and courage at its heart. Perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Prodigal Summer, and Wild Dark Shore, it is a vivid and haunting ode to the wild in all of us.

PRAISE FOR EVERY WILD SOUL

'Expansive and engrossing' - Books+Publishing

'A heartfelt and intriguing novel set in a wild and beautiful place. A wonderful read.' - Favel Parrett

'A tender, aching story of our elemental need for wilderness.' - Robyn Mundy

'A sense of wonder for the land and sea pervades this beautifully crafted novel. It is a work of passion and ferocity - also of gentleness - that, in bringing to life the rewilding of an island and the people who live there, offers a spark of hope to us all.' - Suzanne Leal

'A thrilling journey into the wildness of landscape and heart, longing and desire, captivity and freedom. Science meets love. Nature meets redemption. Cleverly woven and beautifully written. An intricate portrayal of the fragility of human relationships and the natural world. Lyrical, mysterious, unexpected, Every Wild Soul will bring you closer to nature and the wilderness that hides inside all of us.' - Karen Viggers

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tasmanian writer Katherine Johnson is the author of four earlier novels. Paris Savages (Ventura Press 2019/2021, Allison and Busby UK/US 2020, Jimenez Edizioni 2021) is based on the true story of 'human zoos' in Europe in the late nineteenth century. It was shortlisted in the ABIA awards and was The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month in June 2020. Her previous novels include The Better Son (Ventura Press 2016), set in northern Tasmania's caves; Matryoshka (Ventura Press 2018); and Pescador's Wake (HarperCollins/Fourth Estate 2009), the story of the danger and heartbreak of lives at the mercy of the sea during a three-week Southern Ocean chase.

Contact the host of Book Launch: Every Wild Soul by Katherine Johnson in conversation with Karen Viggers