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  • Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright book cover
  • Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright book cover
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Praiseworthy

by Alexis Wright

A small town beneath a gathering haze

$19.54 USD
$32.57 USD $19.54 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Winner of the 2023 Queensland Award for Literary Fiction

AlbakiReads Editorial

A small town beneath a gathering haze

In a northern Australian town, an ecological crisis and the gathering of ancestors shape the lives of the Steel family. Cause Man Steel pursues a donkey-based alternative to fossil fuels, while Dance turns to the study of butterflies and moths and considers returning her family to China. Their children, Aboriginal Sovereignty and Tommyhawk, each imagine a different way out of their circumstances. The novel brings environmental damage, family conflict and the pressures of assimilation into the same surreal, expansive setting, with Aboriginal sovereignty and the future of Country central to its concerns.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in contemporary Australian fiction and Indigenous sovereignty.
  • Readers drawn to novels that connect family tensions with ecological concerns.
  • Readers interested in stories exploring assimilation, belonging and cultural repatriation.

Themes

Ecological catastrophe and fossil fuelsAboriginal sovereignty and CountryAssimilation and cultural identityFamily conflict and belonging

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

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.

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