Floodline
On the eve of a huge gay mardis gras a city is destroyed by a flood - a moving, passionate, original and utterly fresh novel from the acclaimed author of Captain Starlight's Apprentice.
What remains after everything is washed away? Funny, moving and utterly compelling, Floodline tells of the unexpected salvation that can be found on the edge of disaster.
When the city of Horneville is destroyed by a flood on the eve of a huge gay mardis gras, Mikey Brown - the feisty, sexy and dynamic host of a Christian shopping channel - knows exactly what she needs to do. Taking her sons with her, she sets out on a grand mercy mission. The journey is more than a flood clean-up for Mikey - she wants to save the city and teach the godless inhabitants a lesson. Her husband was lost to her after attempting to 'mission' to this same festival and this is her chance to lay the past to rest. Mustard - an enthusiastic, ebullient, 8 year old - doesn't believe his father is dead. In fact, he is determined to find him and knows that Horneville is the place to start looking. If anyone can bring him back, Mustard can.
Down in the city, the floodwater surrounding the Horneville City Hospital is steadily rising, turning what has been a place of refuge into a disaster zone. Deep in the hospital chaos, Nurse Gina Donaldson is forced to make a life and death decision with shattering repercussions.
The arrival of Mikey's little troupe helps Gina find hope in the most unlikely places. Both Mikey and Gina must stare down their pasts in order to find salvation, but will they have the courage?
This extraordinary novel is a brilliant feat of imagination and characterization from an acclaimed writer at the height of her great powers. It is surprising, revelatory and original in every way.
'Powerful and accomplished.Heyman reveals her pedigree as a playwright and poet in stunning language and original imagery.Profoundly moving.' The Scotsman on The Breaking
Author bio:
Kathryn Heyman is the author of four novels, including The Accomplice and Captain Starlight's Apprentice, published internationally and in translation. She has received an Arts Council of England Writers Award, the Wingate and the Southern Arts Awards, and been nominated for the Orange Prize, the Scottish Writer of the Year Award, the Edinburgh Fringe Critic's Awards, the Kibble Prize, and the West Australian Premier's Book Awards. She has written several radio plays for BBC radio, including adaptations of her own work. Her fifth novel, Floodline, will be published in 2013.
Reading group notes
Author interview
Reviews
'Heyman's cool-eyed compassion for her characters draws out their humanity while staring hard at their flaws. The marvel is that the frailty she discovers in her women and men turns out to be the foundation of their greatest strengths. It is a paradox notated in language of poetic force and loveliness. A moving, graceful and fiercely interrogated work.' - Geordie Williamson, The Australian
'Kathryn Heyman's fifth novel has a parable-like quality reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. ... Indomitably redemptive.' - The Weekend Australian
'Heyman tackles diverse topics in this ambitious novel, from the limits of disaster relief to family secrets, from the sanctity of life to homophobia. Although her portrait of evangelical Christianity is scathing, it's also subtle, especially in her superb portraits of the boys' spiritual worlds... Floodline is a startling and confronting - and yet open-hearted - novel.' - Adelaide Advertiser
'Guaranteed to keep you hooked.' - The West Australian
'Floodline is quite brilliant in its observation of human behaviour and the way tragedy brings out the best and worst in different people. Heyman balances a book that is preoccupied with tragedy with moments of great humour.. .most definitely an award contender.' - Culture Street
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