The Animals in That Country

By: Laura Jean McKay

Narrated by: Laura Jean McKay

Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award.

Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.

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.

As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises 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. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. When he 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. Bold, exhilarating and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

©2020 Laura Jean McKay (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"A game-changing, life-changing novel." (Ceridwen Dovey)

"Deliriously strange, blackly hilarious, and completely exhilarating." (James Bradley)

"Engrossing, subversive and surprisingly profound." (J.P. Pomare)

Outstanding story and read

Laura Jean McKay reads her own debut novel and it’s a mind altering experience. The delivery is first person in full Australian patois, which for some listeners may be as strange as the talking animals. At times the story is reminiscent of George Saunders, and the later hallucinogenic passages reminded me of Jeff VanderMeer’s writing, and there’s a strong thread of contemporary Australian writing in tone and imagery, but the story belongs to McKay. There are terrifying moments in the novel that with the author’s delivery have the vibe of a very dark children’s story. Cannot praise this book more highly. Would recommend.

Bizarre

This book was on a book club list so wanted to give it a go - at best, this story offers an interesting perspective into the internal monologue of animals, mostly though the story is as incomprehensible as their dialogue.