Flames

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

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Description

*Shortlisted for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2019*

In Robbie Arnotts widely acclaimed and much-loved first novel, a young man named Levi McAllister decides to build a coffin for his sister, Charlottewho promptly runs for her life. A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire.

The answers to these riddles are to be found in this tale of grief and love and the bonds of family, tracing a journey across the southern island. Utterly original in conception, spellbinding in its descriptions of nature and celebration of language, Flames is one of the most exciting debuts of recent years.

Reviews

A strange and joyous marvel. -- Richard Flanagan
Ambitious storytelling from a stunning new Australian voice. Flames is constantly surprisingI never knew where the story would take me next. This book has a lovely sense of wonder for the world. Its brimming with heart and compassion. -- Rohan Wilson
Robbie Arnott is a vivid and bold new voice in Australian fiction. -- Danielle Wood
Visionary, vivid, full of audacious transformations: theres a marvellous energy to this writing that returns the world to us aflame. A brilliant and wholly original debut. -- Gail Jones
Arnott skilfully switches between different voices and genres in a trick reminiscent of David Mitchells Cloud Atlas. The range he displays is impressive, swinging from fable to gothic horror to hardboiled detective story. * Books+Publishing *
Flames is an exuberantly creative and confident debut. This is a story that sparks with inventionInvigorating, strange and occasionally brutal. * Australian Book Review *
This is the kind of book that youll be able to read a second, third, even fourth time, and it will still never reveal all its secrets. Composed with meticulous attention to detail, and a mastery of form rarely found in a debut novel, Flames will keep you stewing long after youve finished reading it. * Readings *
'A surprising story with a definite feminist edgethe novels playfulness and poetry make for a fresh and entertaining read.' * Saturday Paper *
Arnott confidently borrows from the genres of crime fiction, thriller, romance, comedy, eco-literature, and magical realism, throws them in the air, and lets the pieces land to form a flaming new world. * Sydney Morning Herald *
This is a startlingly good first novel, stylistically adventurous, gorgeous in its descriptions and with a compelling narrative that should find a wide readership. * Australian *
A gloriously audacious book. It runs astonishing risks and takes on the biggest emotionsIt bowled me sideways. * New Zealand Herald *
Unique and memorableExtraordinary energyArich and memorable picture with prose of an exceptionally high quality.You wont read another Australian literary novel like this anytime soon. * Kill Your Darlings *
[A] novel you will want to read more than once, not so much to plumb its depths as to savour its wild variety of styles and voices, to revel in its breathtaking descriptions of Tasmanian wilderness and to grasp its intricate structureThere is no doubt that a poetically wild and wicked imagination is at work here. More please! * SA Weekend *
It's not hard to see where the hype came from. This is an assured, funny and highly imaginative work.Flamesis strange from the first, arresting sentence. * Stuff NZ *
Highly innovative[A] finely built and realised first novel. * Otago Daily Times *
Flames is brilliantEnjoy it for its prose poetry, its vivid imagery, its brilliant turns of phrase on nearly every page. * NZ Listener *
Delightful. He jumps playfully between different writing styles in every chapter[An] enchanting story that also captures something very real about Tasmanian life. * Guardian *
An engrossing narrative of mystery and escape that treats the reader to bravura runs of writing, especially around the elements of water and fire...You never quite know which direction the story will take off in as it creates a new kind of fairytale for our fire-prone landscape. -- Judges report * Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist 2019 *

Author Bio

Robbie Arnott was a 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist and won the Margaret Scott Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premiers Literary Prizes. His widely acclaimed debut, Flames (2018), was shortlisted for a Victorian Premiers Literary Award, a New South Wales Premiers Literary Award, a Queensland Literary Award, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and Not the Booker Prize. He lives in Hobart.