THE FUR
PUBLISHER: Fremantle Arts Centre Press
ISBN: 1 92073 101 RRP: $AUD17.95 Cover by Adrienne Zuvela; Edited by Janet Blagg
The story of a reclusive, passionate teenager's quest to live a meaningful life against the backdrop of a Western Australia from an alternate reality - quarantined from the rest of the world because of the fungus which has infested the state; occupied by UN and Commonwealth troops. Michael faces the choice of quietism, revolution or escape.
Hungry for love, Michael's dilemma is painfully compounded by his fundamentalist family, his mother's death and his obsession with beautiful and inaccessible girls.
WINNER T.A.G. HUNGERFORD AWARD 2003
'The Fur is The Catcher in the Rye for the Third Millennium, a darkly passionate attempt to articulate the struggle between the existential and political for all those 'who wish to be great.'
- Janet Blagg, editor
'Nathan Hobby's imagination is hungry and intense. He needs a whole world to feed it and then some.'
- Michael McGirr, Sydney Morning Herald
'Polish passion and a brilliant handling of theme mark Nathan Hobby's debut novel...
'Deals brilliantly with the... sort of troubles that beset bright teenagers. But while it has the same seriousness and insight as Salinger's novel, it has more breadth...
'At the very least it should be in every Australian high school library and recommended reading list.'
- Stephen Dedman, The West Australian
To arrange a book signing, talk or workshop at your school, shop, church or community group, please contact the author at [email protected] .
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And the fur and the mouth and the innocence
Turned to hair and contentment
That hangs in abasement
A woman now stands where once
There was only a girl
- The Cure, 'Last Dance'
(Frequently Asked Questions
about the Fur)
Free 10 000 word extract - 'Michael's Kingdom'
- CLICK FOR FULL REVIEW - Dave, aged 15, Canberra
(This review is enough to warm any writer's heart. Dave, I've never met you, but I feel like you understand my book!)
"The Fur is not just another sentimental coming of age story, but one that authentically captures the liminal space of young adulthood, evoking what it's like to be on the edge and about to leap."
- CLICK FOR FULL REVIEW - Lissette Kaleveld, Journal of Australian Studies
"I found a lot of humour in The Fur, brought about by the defamiliarisation of the fur itself and the simplicity of the notions of the Wealth, the Reds and the Sanctuary.'
- CLICK FOR FULL REVIEW - Gabrielle Everall, The Program