200,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Black Friday Sale on Now! Save up to 25% off Books, Toys, Board Games, & Puzzles! ✨

Wanting

By Richard Flanagan
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.55 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 3,041 ratings, 410 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Wanting by Richard Flanagan weaves together two narratives set in 19th-century Tasmania and England. The story explores themes of desire and longing through the lives of historical figures like Sir John Franklin and Charles Dickens, examining the impact of dreams and unfulfilled wants on their personal and professional lives. Flanagan crafts a rich, poignant tale that delves into the nature of desire and its consuming power.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2400
Elsewhere:
$2600
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you're interested in stories that explore the deep complexities of human desire and the impact of colonialism on individual lives. Set in the 19th century, it artfully connects two disparate stories—one involving the explorer Sir John Franklin and the other concerning a young Aboriginal girl—bringing to life themes of love, loss, and yearning across different cultures and societies.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Richard Flanagan's Wanting reminds us that he is one of the most exciting novelists working anywhere, full stop - The Age

From the winner of the Man Booker Prize. The bestselling, universally lauded novel of desire and its denial from acclaimed writer Richard Flanagan.

Van Diemen's Land, 1841. Mathinna, the adopted Aboriginal daughter of the island's governor, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, sits for her portrait. She is the subject of a grand experiment in civilisation - one that will determine whether science and reason can be imposed in place of savagery and desire.

Years pass. Sir John Franklin disappears on an Arctic expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage. England is horrified as reports of cannibalism filter back from search parties, no one more so than the most celebrated novelist of the day, Charles Dickens, for whom Franklin's story becomes a means to plumb the frozen depths of his own soul.

As several lives become entwined, Wanting transforms the classical myth of Leda and the swan into a novel about the ways in which desire - and its denial - shape us all.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781761048180

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 April 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 188g

Pages: 272

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Richard Flanagan

About the Author

Richard Flanagan has been described by the Washington Post as 'one of our greatest living novelists' and as 'among the most versatile writers in the English language' by the New York Review of Books. He won the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the Commonwealth Prize for Gould's Book of Fish. His most recent book is Question 7.

Also by Richard Flanagan

View all
  • On Sale
    20% off
    Question 7
    Beginning at a love hotel by Japan's Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. 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 when the atom bomb...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North
    The highly anticipated Australian original series based on Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize-winning novel is launching on Prime Video on 18 April 2025. A masterpiece . . . The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an extraordinary piece of writing and a high point in an already distinguished career. - Michael Williams, The Guardian Available on Prime Video from 18...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $1999
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Unknown Terrorist
    From the winner of the Man Booker Prize. What would you do if you turned on the television and saw you were the most wanted terrorist in the country? After spending a night with an attractive stranger, Gina Davies becomes a prime suspect in an attempted terrorist attack. When police find three unexploded bombs at a stadium, Gina goes on...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Sound Of One Hand Clapping
    The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is described as a 'heartbreaking story, beautifully told' by the Literary Review, and it delivers from its wonderfully atmospheric opening to its touching conclusion. Written by the winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling literary novels in Australian history. In the winter...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Gould's Book Of Fish
    'A work of pure brilliance', Seattle Times From the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2014, this is his Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning novel. Once upon a time, which was called 1828, before all fishes in the sea and all living things on the land were destroyed, there was a man named William Buelow Gould. A white convict who fell in...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • First Person
    Flanagan's best work to date. - Readings Magazine What is the truth? In this blistering story of a ghost writer haunted by his demonic subject, the Man Booker Prize winner turns to lies, crime and literature with devastating effect. About to go to trial for defrauding the banks of millions, con man and corporate criminal Siegfried Heidl offers broke writer...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Death Of A River Guide
    One of the most auspicious debuts in Australian writing. – Times Literary Supplement From the winner of the Man Booker Prize, Death of a River Guide, Richard Flanagan's debut novel, is widely regarded as a classic in Australian literature. Beneath a waterfall on the Franklin, Aljaz Cosini, river guide, lies drowning. Beset by visions at once horrible and fabulous, he...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North
    A masterpiece . . . The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an extraordinary piece of writing and a high point in an already distinguished career. - Michael Williams, The Guardian A novel of the cruelty of war, the tenuousness of life, and the impossibility of love. August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Living Sea of Waking Dreams
    Richard Flanagan is one of the greatest writers at work in the world today - I admire him and his writing immensely. The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is a haunting, urgent and important book about our broken and confusing age," says James Rebanks. In a world of perennial fire and growing extinctions, Anna's aged mother is dying—if her three...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Question 7
    Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024 Beginning at a love hotel by Japan's Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West's affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan's father working as a slave...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Toxic
    Is Tasmanian salmon one big lie? In a triumph of marketing, the Tasmanian salmon industry has for decades succeeded in presenting itself as world’s best practice and its product as healthy and clean, grown in environmentally pristine conditions. What could be more appealing than the idea of Atlantic salmon sustainably harvested in some of the world’s purest waters? But what...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Seize the Fire
    In Seize the Fire, Richard Flanagan argues that Australia is not a fixed entity, but a molten idea—a country with a future that is ours to shape and ours to dream anew. Australia is not a fixed entity, a collection of outdated bigotries and reactionary credos, but rather an invitation to dream, and this country—our country—belongs to its dreamers. If...
    By Richard Flanagan
    Paperback
    $1500
    Elsewhere:
    $1599
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Browse lists from our team

The Latest at Book Hero

View all

More from General Fiction

View all
  • On Sale
    13% off
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    By Caro Claire Burke
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    14% off
    Dylan's Pick Dylan's Pick
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    By Allen Levi
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    By Alison Espach
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    A Court of Splintered Harmony
    Romance, danger, and intrigue await you in the breathtaking sixth book in the #1 bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series.What was broken will be remade.Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he's been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories,...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    10% off
    New Release
    Threshing Day
    The next book in the blockbuster Empyrean series, Threshing Day contains thirteen stories starring your favorite characters and their dragons. The deluxe first edition includes sixteen beautiful original full-color illustrations by artist Joe Requeza.    Rebecca Yarros is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing and In the...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Hardback
    $6300
    Usually:
    $6999
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! ‘She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    By Lee Child and Andrew Child
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    11% off
    Assassin’s Apprentice
    Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb marks the beginning of an extraordinary adventure in the rich and immersive world of the Six Duchies. Set against the backdrop of a kingdom teetering on the brink of civil war, this gripping tale introduces readers to FitzChivalry Farseer, a royal bastard whose existence threatens the stability of the crown. When the crown prince's secret...
    By Robin Hobb
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books)
    All five of the Court of Thorns and Roses paperbacks packaged together in a gorgeous box set. "Passionate, violent, sexy and daring." —USA TODAY on A Court of Thorns and Roses Feyre is a huntress. The skin of a wolf would bring enough gold to feed her sisters for a month. But the life of a magical creature comes at...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Set
    $8000
    Elsewhere:
    $12495
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Threshing Day
    New Release
    Threshing Day
    The next book in the blockbuster Empyrean series, Threshing Day, contains thirteen stories starring your favourite characters and their dragons. The deluxe first edition includes sixteen beautiful original full-colour illustrations by artist Joe Requeza and silver-gilded edges. *while stock lasts. Discover the beloved world of the record-breaking, multi-million-copy bestselling series where power always demands a price, secrets darken every hallway,...
    By Rebecca Yarros
    Hardback
    $4999
    Elsewhere:
    $5500
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    19% off
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    John of John
    The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo.'John of John has the emotional range and sense of sympathy of his earlier books, but this book is special, it has an urgency, an immediacy, a brilliant sense of place, the drama of fierce emotion repressed, concealed and volcanically exposed' - Colm Tóibín'To read John of John is to move to...
    By Douglas Stuart
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    14% off
    A Court of Wings and Ruin
    The third instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. In A Court of Wings and Ruin, the gripping third book of the ACOTAR series, Feyre Archeron faces the ultimate battle for her world. Having returned to the Spring Court, she is determined to gather...
    By Sarah J. Maas
    Paperback
    $1800
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 200,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.