Saturation

Ambrose and Ursula, two librarians, strive to have a baby in a world where children seem less prevalent. Their story becomes increasingly punctuated by seemingly random episodes of violence inflicted upon their world as Bottrell, a fascist leader, preys on the insecurities of a populace saturated with information and the act of remembering. He attempts to master the past, viewing it as a source of corruption. He persecutes librarians and begins to selectively cull collections.

Ambrose and Ursula attempt to remain outside this conflict, but inevitably are drawn into it, through their desire to save the books they have spent their working lives preserving. They realise that they must save the past for a new generation to be able to understand it.

Narrative and character-driven, this is a startlingly original novel that passionately opposes the trend for banning books and attempts to rewrite history. Set in a slightly future world that has managed the climate crisis but with a dramatic decrease in population, Saturation feels eerily like now. As we constantly forget names and passwords, and lean into a tyranny of reductivism, it calls us to a position of knowledge and hope.

Praise for William Lane's writing:

'moody and unsettling ... taut and densely imagined' The Age

'revels in risks and delivers rewards' The Australian

'mesmerising...a gothic sense which imbues it with an overall eeriness' Whispering Gums

'beautiful...a poetic meditation on origins' Julia Tulloh Harper