Fever of Animals

Winner of the Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award 2014

'For nearly five years I have wanted to write something about the surrealist painter Emil Bafdescu—about his paintings, one of which hangs in a little restaurant in Melbourne, and about his disappearance, which is still a mystery. But this is probably not going to be the book I imagined. Nothing has quite worked out the way I planned.'

With the inheritance he received upon his father's death, Miles has come to Europe on the trail of the Romanian surrealist, who disappeared into a forest in 1967. But in trying to unravel the mystery of Bafdescu's secret life, Miles must also reckon with his own.

Faced with a language and a landscape that remain stubbornly out of reach, and condemned to wait for someone who may never arrive, Miles is haunted by thoughts of his ex-girlfriend, Alice, and the trip they took to Venice that ended their relationship.

Uncanny, occasionally absurd, and utterly original, Fever of Animals is a beautifully written meditation on art and grief.

'Exceptional ...a worldly book, full of art and ideas, and yet so intimate that it feels like a conversation with a dear, intelligent friend ...masterful in its treatment of time and memory... Allinson is destined for a cult following.' —Emily Bitto, Stella Prize-winning author of The Strays

'Heartfelt, darkly comic, and nothing short of extraordinary. Allinson's novel is a rarity—fearless, finely judged, and alive with mystery.' —Andrew Croome, Vogel Prize-winning author of Midnight Empire and Document Z