The Swan Book

The new novel by Alexis Wright, whose previous novelCarpentariawon the MilesFranklin Award and four other major prizes including the ABIA Literary FictionBook of the Year Award.The Swan Bookis set in the future, with Aboriginals still living under the Interventionin the north, in an environment fundamentally altered by climate change. It followsthe life of a mute teenager called Oblivia, the victim of gang-rape by petrol-sniffingyouths, from the displaced community where she lives in a hulk, in a swamp filledwith rusting boats, and thousands of black swans driven from other parts of thecountry, to her marriage to Warren Finch, the first Aboriginal president of Australia,and her elevation to the position of First Lady, confined to a tower in a flooded andlawless southern city.The Swan Bookhas all the qualities which made Wright'sprevious novel,Carpentaria, a prize-winning best-seller. It offers an intimateawareness of the realities facing Aboriginal people; the wild energy and humour inher [...]writing finds hope in the bleakest situations; and the remarkable combination ofstorytelling elements, drawn from myth and legend and fairy tale.