This is a book I've had for a while now, and I could have sworn it was the book we were supposed to be reading for our next f2f meeting - but it's not. Didn't matter. Fantastic book.
From the Blurb:
Richard Flanagan's previous novels, including Gould's Book of Fish, have been some of the most acclaimed and beloved works of fiction in recent years. He has been described as "a master of sleight of hand, adept at using words to conjure worlds, an indefatigable artist" by Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times. His explosive fourth novel holds a mirror to contemporary Australia. In its terrifying reflection we see the image of the Doll, a 26-year-old Sydney pole dancer – a flawed woman, racist, obsessed with money – who finds her life suddenly being destroyed by the things she has up until that moment most firmly believed in. The Unknown Terrorist is a relentless tour de force that has been praised around the world. It paints a devastating picture of a contemporary society gone haywire, where the ceaseless drumbeat of terror alert levels, newsbreaks, and fear of the unknown pushes a nation ever closer to breaking point.
Opening Lines:
The idea that love is not enough is a particularly painful one. In the face of its truth, humanity has for centuries tried to discover in itself evidence that love is the greatest force on earth.
Gina Davies, aka The Doll, is a 26-year-old pole dancer at the Chairman's Lounge in Sydney's Kings Cross. She's a flawed woman, racist, obsessed with money, who finds her life suddenly being destroyed by the things she has up until that moment most firmly believed in.
The evening of the Mardi Gras, 2007. Three unexploded bombs have been found that day at Homebush Stadium, so the country is on high-alert. When wandering through the Mardi Gras' crowds the Doll runs into a good-looking, young dark man. They end up at his place. When she wakes, it's Sunday morning and he has gone. She is getting a coffee in a cafe opposite the apartment block she spent the night in when she sees armed police surround the building she has just left. Later in the day while shopping in the city she sees a story on a big video screen in which the news is of a suspected terrorist entering the same building she had spent the night in.
That night, on television news, the story has altered a little. In an exclusive, the network has security camera footage of the terrorist entering the building the night before with an accomplice, a woman she recognises as herself. And so a case is brought against her by the media, and the hunt for her begins.
From a 26-year-old pole dancer in the Chairman's Lounge, she quickly becomes the most wanted woman in Australia as every truth of her life is turned into a lie!