The Animals in That Country

First published 2020

Miles Franklin 2021 · Longlist

When the animals start talking, we’re not ready for what we’ll learn. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue. Then one day, disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country. This is no ordinary flu- its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals – first mammals, then birds and insects, too.

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But as the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds. When Jean’s infected son, Lee, takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species.