By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair, through 1930s nuclear physics, to Flanagan’s father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima, this chain of events culminates in a young man finding himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river, not knowing if he is to live or to die…

‘The strangest and most beautiful memoir I’ve ever read. Magnificent' Tim Winton

‘Flanagan’s finest book… A brilliant meditation on the past of one man and the history that coalesced in his existence’ Guardian

‘Flanagan’s portrayal of his quiet, brave father and his loving, resilient mother is exquisite. His evocation of the texture of life in rural Tas­mania is masterful’ Daily Telegraph

‘A beautiful, unclassifiable novel-cum-memoir… That it is a masterpiece is without question’ Observer

‘Sometimes a book is an experience felt almost in the body… A celebration of all life, it is also a reckoning with the 20th century… It is intimate, beautiful, unsparing and profound' Anna Funder