The Animals in That Country

winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award

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Pub Date 17 Mar 2020 | Archive Date 30 Sep 2020

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Description

WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS PRIZE FOR FICTION
A SLATE AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE 2021 ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD

Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.

Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.

As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals — first mammals, then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin.

Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
WINNER OF THE 2021 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS PRIZE FOR FICTION
A SLATE AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE 2021 ARTHUR C...


Advance Praise

‘This is a game-changing, life-changing novel, the kind that comes along right when you need it, and compels you to listen to its terrifying poetry. Compulsively readable and yet also pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of language and narrative, this is a brilliant and disturbing book that will make you rethink everything you thought you understood about non-human animal sentience and agency. I don’t think any reader can ever forget a voice like Sue the dingo’s — wise and obscene in equal measure. A triumph.’

Ceridwen Dovey

‘Wow! The Animals in That Country is refreshingly original and totally bonkers, and I read it at a furious pace. Jean Bennett is one of the most memorable characters I’ve read in a long time. I loved her brass and her messiness, and when the end of times comes, most of us will be lucky to have half her loyalty and determination. The story is hugely imaginative and fully realised, with McKay in total control of her creative vision. She explores the potential of human/nonhuman communication, and the result is as poetic as it is surprising. A great debut novel.’

Alison Huber, Book Division Manager Readings 


‘Engrossing, subversive, and surprisingly profound, The Animals in That Country does something only the best fiction can do: it has the power to skew the reader’s perspective on the world. This story will stay with me for a long time, and its protagonist, Jean Bennett, will be with me even longer.’

J.P. Pomare 


‘This is a game-changing, life-changing novel, the kind that comes along right when you need it, and compels you to listen to its terrifying poetry. Compulsively readable and yet also pushing the...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781925693928
PRICE US$35.99 (USD)
PAGES 304

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Average rating from 21 members


Featured Reviews

I wish to thank Laura Jean McKay, Scribe UK and NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Animals in That Country in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fantastic debut, I really looked forward to reading this when I found it on NetGalley, I wasn’t disappointed. Initially set in a wildlife park in the Northern Territory of Australia, Jean the protagonist is a tour guide and child carer for her daughter in laws daughter Kimberley. Jean has a devoted relationship with her charge and the animals in the park. Jean is a gritty big drinker, often in conflict with her daughter in law who manages the park. A viral pandemic throws the country and park into pandemonium as those infected become capable of communicating with animals, first mammals, then birds, reptiles and insects. Jean and a dingo kelpie dog named Sue embark on a road trip across Australia to find Kimberley. Sue is tremendously insightful as she guides Jean on their journey.

Incredibly unique, definitely topical, wildly quirky, wonderful characters; I’m talking to everyone I know who reads about this book.

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Strange, quirky, original and beautifully written. Jean, the MC, is an absolute treat in all her acerbic and misanthropic glory. The bond she has with animals resonated strongly and I loved the wit and poignancy of this story.

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The Animals in That Country is a (weirdly prescient) book that takes place at the onset of a viral flu pandemic. However instead of a questionable sense of grocery store etiquette, those infected with the virus develop an ability to communicate with animals.

The story follows Jean, a wannabe park ranger who has a penchant for booze, smoking menthols and on-line trolling. When her son is infected with the virus and takes off with her granddaughter, Jean accepts help from an escaped dingo named Sue to track them down.

There is no doubt that Laura Jean McKay is a fantastic writer with a sharp style that complements the harsh protagonist and setting of the book. Jean is a refreshingly real character who is a far cry from the British pre-teens we are more accustomed to see talking to animals in fiction.

The way that McKay executes her idea of animal communication is both fascinating and disturbing. Towards the middle of the book I fell out of the story a little trying to find deeper meaning in what the animals were saying - probably because my inner child really just wanted a story about fluently affectionate animals. But then, was McKay manipulating me to empathise with Jean? Frustrated by the need for a deeper sense of connection, if not from fellow humans then from the animal companions that we desperately anthropomorphise? Either way, the story quickly sucked me back in and set my heart pounding.

This book is an impressive debut that has reminded me how much I have been neglecting some great Australian fiction. I would recommend this book to fantasy readers who loved N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season or Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribe for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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‘They’re still going on about that superflu on the radio.’

Jean Bennett is a tough middle-aged woman who works as a guide at a wildlife park in the Australian outback. She likes a few drinks (except when she’s looking after her granddaughter Kimberley) and she hopes, one day, to be a fully-fledged ranger. Jean likes the animals and talks to all of them, but a young dingo called Sue is her favourite. Kimberley’s mother, Angela, manages the park.

Life is disrupted. There’s a pandemic sweeping the country: called ‘zooflu’, it is no ordinary flu. One of the first symptoms is that victims begin to hear the animals speaking. First it is just the mammals, but as the flu progresses, they hear birds and insects. A cacophony of unstoppable voices: people are overwhelmed.
Jean’s son, Lee, arrives at the park. He’s infected, he takes Kimberley and heads south. Jean follows him, taking Sue the dingo with her.

What follows is a surreal road trip. Jean can make sense (mostly) of what Sue says but most people she meets are terrified, many have been driven insane. Will Jean find Kimberley and Lee? Is Sue helping her or hindering her?

It is easy to become lost in this novel: trying to make sense of what the animals are saying while trying to understand the human reactions. The human view of the world is challenged: even where individuals think they understand the animals. We humans make a lot of assumptions, and once those assumptions are challenged, our thin veneer of civilization is disrupted.

I’ve never read a novel quite like this. Ms McKay manages to steer this quite unique story through some challenging territory. And, when I could not make sense of all of it, when I became discombobulated, I thought that would probably be how it would feel if I could hear the voices of animals.

I am not entirely sure how Ms McKay makes this story work so well, but it does. It is simultaneously clever and disturbing. What an impressive novel!

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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I don't know where you'd get more plausible talking animals. It isn't pretty -- it's disturbing -- although the animal speech often reads like modernist poetry.

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A strange novel to read during an actual pandemic. It's unusually written, and the characters aren't exactly the most likeable of people. But there's something refreshing about that – sometimes it's good to see the world through eyes you don't like, though it does make it difficult to connect to the characters. The concept of being able to understand animals – not exactly talk to them in the Dr Doolittle sense, it goes deeper than that – is certainly a unique one. It's understanding them through all of the senses. I'm still not entirely sure what I thought about it – whether I loved it or didn't. It's unusual, and challenging, and complex yet simple. It's a world I never expected to explore and yet here I am. I think if you want to challenge yourself, to explore the world through the eyes of someone so different than yourself, and a situation quite unlike anything we will ever truly face, then this is the novel for you.

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Very interesting and quirky book. I wasn’t too sure of what to make of it at first but once I got into the rhythm of the story and the almost poetical voices of the insects and animals, I couldn’t put it down.

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For a long time I have been looking for a book that is nothing like I have read before. Something unique, funny and brilliant! This is the book I have waited so long for! I would definitely recommend this book!

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Engaging from the get-go, and a great read in the time of the current pandemic The Animals in That Country is set in Australia during a ‘Zoo Flu’ pandemic.
We learn of the side effects of Zoo Flu through Jean Bennett’s eyes. Jean is the feisty, hard drinking grandmother of 6 year old Kimberly.
Kimberly seems like her collaborator and her rock in the first part of the story.
As things change we witness how Jean’s gritty exterior begins to unravel as she embarks on an astonishing journey to bring Kimberly back to the animal park where she lives and works, and to her mother Angela.

Jean is led on this journey by Sue the Dingo.
Jean’s infection with Zoo Flu means that she is able to communicate, or rather perceive the voices of the animals.
As another reviewer said the written voices of the animals were similar to a dark modernist poetry.
Laura Jean McKay makes an original and twisting tale from this new perception, and I was sad to finish the book as I was left wanting more.

This book’s magical and fantastic elements both engaged me throughout, amazed me and also made me laugh.
The insects and birds calling out are rudely hilarious to read.
Mostly I loved the other worldly ideas and imagery within the tale.
It’s an unforgettable story that has embedded itself in my psyche.

Highly recommended to everyone who is comfortable with a fair bit of adult content.
Many thanks to NetGalley & Scribe UK for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Biggest thanks to Engaging from the get-go, and a great read in the time of the current pandemic The Animals in That Country is set in Australia during a ‘Zoo Flu’ pandemic.
We learn of the side effects of Zoo Flu through Jean Bennett’s eyes. Jean is the feisty, hard drinking grandmother of 6 year old Kimberly.
Kimberly seems like her collaborator and her rock in the first part of the story.
As things change we witness how Jean’s gritty exterior begins to unravel as she embarks on an astonishing journey to bring Kimberly back to the animal park where she lives and works, and to her mother Angela.

Jean is led on this journey by Sue the Dingo.
Jean’s infection with Zoo Flu means that she is able to communicate, or rather perceive the voices of the animals.
As another reviewer said the written voices of the animals were similar to a dark modernist poetry.
Laura Jean McKay makes an original and twisting tale from this new perception, and I was sad to finish the book as I was left wanting more.

This book’s magical and fantastic elements both engaged me throughout, amazed me and also made me laugh.
The insects and birds calling out are rudely hilarious to read.
Mostly I loved the other worldly ideas and imagery within the tale.
It’s an unforgettable story that has embedded itself in my psyche.

Highly recommended to everyone who is comfortable with a fair bit of adult content.

Many thanks to NetGalley & Scribe UK for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Biggest Thanks to Laura Jean McKay for creating this amazing story.

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With a title that comes from a Margaret Atwood quote, I knew immediately that The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay book would be a good fit. Jean, not afraid to curse and speak her mind, is a grandmother who works at an animal sanctuary. Sometimes, she drinks on the job. While she has somewhat of a hard exterior, she has a soft spot for the animals she works with and the ones she rehabilitates at home. But someone has been releasing animals back into the wild. Is it an eco-terrorist? An owner who can no longer care for them? Or is it a result of the superflu sweeping the nation, also known as the zooflu, that causes a peculiar side effect of being able to communicate with animals. When Jean’s son leaves with her granddaughter, she heads off to find them with her companion, a dingo, alongside for the ride. This book is creative and gritty, honest and funny. Jean is a memorable and brassy character that I’d follow anywhere. Even with a dingo riding shotgun. The Animals in that Country looks at communication, community and reinforces the idea that humans are definitely the most dangerous animals of them all.

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