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Animal People
From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Stone Yard Devotional
Brief Description
WINNER, NSW Premier's Literary Awards - People's Choice Award SHORTLISTED, NSW Premier's Literary Awards - Christina Stead Prize SHORTLISTED, Nita B. Kibble Award LONGLISTED, Miles Franklin Literary Award Acclaimed novelist Charlotte Wood takes a character from her bestselling book, The Children, and turns her unflinching gaze...
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Animal People
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The hilarious, tender and heartbreaking story of a watershed day in the life of Stephen - aimless, unhappy and unfulfilled, this stiflingly hot December day is the day he has decided to dump his girlfriend. A sharply observed, 24-hour urban love story.
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Description
WINNER, NSW Premier's Literary Awards - People's Choice Award
SHORTLISTED, NSW Premier's Literary Awards - Christina Stead Prize
SHORTLISTED, Nita B. Kibble Award
LONGLISTED, Miles Franklin Literary Award
Acclaimed novelist Charlotte Wood takes a character from her bestselling book, The Children, and turns her unflinching gaze on him and his world in Animal People.
Set in Sydney over a single day, Animal People traces a watershed day in the life of Stephenβaimless, unhappy, unfulfilledβand without a clue as to how to make his life better.
His dead-end job, his demanding family, his oppressive feelings for Fiona, and the pitiless city itself... the great weight of it all threatens to come crashing down on him. The day will bring untold surprises and disasters, but will also show himβperhaps too lateβthat only love can set him free.
Sharply observed, hilarious, tender and heartbreaking, Animal People is a portrait of urban life, a meditation on the conflicted nature of human-animal relationships, and a masterpiece of storytelling.
'Consistently inventive and tightly crafted' - Sydney Morning Herald
'A compelling and ultimately moving novel that cements Wood's place as one of the most intelligent and compassionate novelists in Australia.' - The Age
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781761473302
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 30 June 2026
Country: Australia
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 272
Collections
About the Author
One of Australia's most original and provocative writers, Sydney-based Charlotte Wood is the author of ten books-seven novels and three non-fiction works. Her features and essays have been published around the world, including in The Guardian, the New York Times, and the Sydney Morning Herald. She won the Stella Prize and the Prime Minister's Literary Award with her novel The Natural Way of Things. Her latest novel, Stone Yard Devotional, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
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Why I can't review Animal People. I read Charlotte Wood's novel Animal People twice. I think it's one of the best contemporary novels I have read. But I cannot review it. I tried a number of times and failed each time. I only recently realised why this is. I don't want to review Animal People. I want to recommend it....Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$2899Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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