Praiseworthy

An astonishing and monumental masterpiece from the towering Australian writer Alexis Wright whose "words explode from the page" (The Monthly)

WINNER OF THE 2024 MILES FRANKLIN AWARD

WINNER OF THE 2024 STELLA PRIZE

WINNER OF THE 2024 JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE

WINNER OF THE 2023 QUEENSLAND AWARD FOR LITERARY FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

In a small town in the north of Australia, a mysterious haze cloud heralds both an ecological catastrophe and a gathering of the ancestors. A visionary on his own holy quest, Cause Man Steel seeks the perfect platinum donkey to launch an Aboriginal-owned donkey transport industry, saving Country and the world from fossil fuels. His wife, Dance, seeking solace from his madness, studies butterflies and moths and dreams of repatriating her family to China. One of their sons, named Aboriginal Sovereignty, is determined to end it all by walking into the sea. Their other child, Tommyhawk, wants nothing more than to be adopted by Australia's most powerful white woman. Praiseworthy is an epic masterpiece that bends time and reality—a cry of outrage against oppression, greed, and assimilation.