Flames - Robbie Arnott

A young man named Levi McAllister decides to build a coffin for his 23-year-old sister, Charlottewho promptly runs for her life. A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire. A tale of grief and love and the bonds of family, tracing a journey across the island of Tasmania. Flames is utterly fresh and original, with spellbinding descriptions of nature.

Robbie Arnott was born in Launceston in 1989. His writing has appeared in Island, the Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and the 2017 anthology Seven Stories. He won the 2015 Tasmanian Young Writers' Fellowship and the 2014 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. Robbie lives in Hobart and is an advertising copywriter.

'A strange and joyous marvel.'-Richard Flanagan, author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North;
'Visionary, vivid, full of audacious transformations: there's a marvellous energy to this writing that returns the world to us aflame. A brilliant and wholly original debut.'-Gail Jones, author of Sixty Lights and Sorry;

'Flames is constantly surprising-I never knew where the story would take me next. This book has a lovely sense of wonder for the world. It's brimming with heart and compassion.'-Rohan Wilson, author of To Name Those Lost;
'Arnott skilfully switches between different voices and genres in a trick reminiscent of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. The range he displays is impressive, swinging from fable to gothic horror to hardboiled detective story.'-Books+Publishing;
'An exuberantly creative and confident debut. This is a story that sparks with invention…Invigorating, strange and occasionally brutal.'-Australian Book Review;
'A surprising story with a definite feminist edge…the novel's playfulness and poetry make for a fresh and entertaining read.'-Saturday Paper;
'The key triumph of Flames is bringing Australia's southern island state to vivid life, characterising it as a robust survivor shaped by the extremes of fire and flood.'-Big Issue;
'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 emotions…It bowled me sideways.'-New Zealand Herald;
'An extremely evocative and imaginative work…Undeniably powerful…it is refreshing to see the Australian landscape written about so vividly.'-Good Reading;