From a 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Young Novelist of the Year and the author of the highly praised novel Flames, comes another beguiling, transformative work of fiction confirming Robbie Arnott as one of Australia's most exciting writers.
Robbie Arnott was a 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist
and won the Margaret Scott Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier's
Literary Prizes. His widely acclaimed debut, Flames (2018), was
shortlisted for a Victorian Premier's Literary Award, a New South
Wales Premier's Literary Award, a Queensland Literary Award, the
Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and Not the Booker Prize.
He lives in Hobart.
@RobbieArnott
‘Robbie Arnott is singlehandedly reinventing Australian literature.
The Rain Heron is a soaring feat of the imagination.’
*Bram Presser*
‘In The Rain Heron, Robbie Arnott has turned his gaze to
civilisation’s need to control and understand the natural world.
This is a book full of heart—it’s so richly imagined, inventive and
beautifully written, with a strong message, but is never didactic.
It’s like nothing I've read and Arnott has quickly become one of my
favourite authors.’
*J. P. Pomare*
‘A book that is not only a compelling, original read, but one that
delivers hard truths that urgently need to be heard.’
*Books+Publishing*
‘A strange and curious book…the craft is extraordinary.'
*RN Bookshelf*
‘Arnott’s vision coalesces into an affecting narrative, charged
with symbolism and characters who hold trauma, pain and cruelty in
the same space…As in his previous novel, Flames, Arnott is
uncommonly adept at imbuing his work with a rich, lived-in feel, a
world close to our own, filled with parallel myths and coinciding
calamities. And as he did in Flames, Arnott reminds us he is one of
the best prose stylists currently working in Australia…His is a
lyrical, natural style that combines the expansiveness of a fable
with fully realised detail. Arnott’s sentences are truly a pleasure
to read and the characters finely studied.’
*Saturday Paper*
‘The Rain Heron is literary art. Robbie Arnott has deftly crafted
an audacious idea into an original, compelling work…Flames is
shrouded in a gothic, macabre Tasmanian setting. I thought it
brilliant. The Rain Heron is even better…Arnott blends his genres
impeccably. Nothing is overdone or superfluous…When the northerner,
the seeker of squid ink, views a painting of the ocean, he is
entranced by the quality and depth of its brightness and texture.
It is “an artwork laced with ink”, a perfect metaphor for this
luminous tale.’
*Australian*
‘With its emotional power and rich symbolism, The Rain Heron is an
immersion in landscape, climate and an animal world that lives
despite us, not for us. Robbie Arnott has imagined a creature, by
turns exquisitely beautiful and terrifying, the likes of which I
have never seen in Australian literature. His titular heron is a
source of breathless wonder, of reverence. Arnott is just as wise
with his human characters, with their wretchedness and elation,
love and mistrust. There are images in this book that are entirely
new to me, and I will cherish them.’
*Jock Serong*
‘An intuitive understanding of fauna and flora and humankind’s
problematic, often violent relationship with nature…Written with
economy and grace, The Rain Heron is a timeless and poignant
meditation on our fragile relationship with the natural
environment.’
*Guardian*
‘Arnott’s writing is clear and compelling, particularly in
descriptions of the folkloric bird, with its “rain-smeared
transparency”.’
*New Yorker*
‘The Rain Heron is genuinely and completely magnificent—a magical
thing.’
*Robert Lukins*
‘The Rain Heron is exquisite. Reading it feels like hearing a
legend from our past, from our near future; like remembering
something you had always known but somehow forgotten. It is both
fantastical and deeply true.’
*Jane Rawson*
‘The Rain Heron is an intoxicating fable from an extraordinary
imagination. Robbie Arnott writes like the words want to be
his.’
*Anna Spargo-Ryan*
‘Robbie Arnott imagines a thoroughly strange, inky-dark land of the
near future. Sharp and original, The Rain Heron is a beautiful
novel about love, violence and redemption.’
*Laura Elvery*
‘Arnott weaves a narrative that feels both timely and timelessly
engaging. A powerful meditation on human greed and frailty, The
Rain Heron also leaves room for redemption. This bracing follow-up
to Flames will reinforce Arnott’s reputation for unusual,
risk-taking literary fiction.’
*Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Australian Book Review*
‘An engrossing narrative of mystery and escape that treats the
reader to bravura runs of writing, especially around the elements
of water and fire…You never quite know which direction the story
will take off in as it creates a new kind of fairytale for our
fire-prone landscape.’
*Judges’ report on Flames, Sydney Morning Herald Best Young
Australian Novelist 2019*
‘A searing exploration of the entanglement of internal and external
nature, and the human mind’s unconscious pull towards dominating
the natural world. Arnott is brilliant at writing the natural
world.’
*Kill Your Darlings*
‘A story of survival, an ecological thriller weighted with a
mythological perspective, and a dystopian adventure…This is a novel
that beautifully captures people at war with themselves, with each
other, with nature—and it’s a taut, tense thriller at the same
time…It is the perfect book to read now. It brings us closer and it
steadies the world just a little.’
*Readings*
‘[The Rain Heron] would be a cautionary tale if the characters and
the situations weren’t so close to our own. As it is, this just may
be a history lesson in man’s stupidity.’
*Herald Sun*
‘A strange and curious book…the craft is extraordinary.'
*RN Bookshelf*
‘For some artists, landscape is both inspiration and filter, and
the Tasmanian wilderness is to Arnott what the Lakes District was
to Wordsworth…Flames revealed Arnott’s discipline in maintaining a
line between the magical and the humdrum…And he does this again.
The natural world is real and marvellous in the sense that it is
full of things at which to marvel, and the most shocking, most
violent acts are not those of humans against humans but humans
against the natural world…The Rain Heron is an unsettling adult
jigsaw.’
*Monthly*
‘A beautifully poetic, hypnotic, barreling ride…As delightfully
brutal as it is captivating…It is as pitch-perfect a second novel
as could have been anticipated…Arnott displays stunning talent on
every page…A stunning blend of mythologies, grim society, and
fatefully interconnected lives.’
*The Millions*
‘Unsettling…Arnott writes vibrantly about the harsh wonder of
nature, his vivid characters becoming almost animal
themselves.’
*Observer*
‘Arnott’s writing is as refreshing as a wash of rain; no one is
producing fiction quite like him…[His] lyrical writing is saturated
with mystery and old magic...The Rain Heron reads like a fable,
exquisite and melancholy, and Arnott’s love of landscape and nature
is the most striking aspect of the novel…[It blends] what feels
like timeless mythology with a dire warning for our future.’
*ArtsHub*
‘Daring, atmospheric...The novel moves at a quicksilver pace,
shimmering with menace and electric visions of forests and
lake-filled valleys.’
*New York Times*
‘The Rain Heron is an evocative and poetic ecological
myth…Mesmerising and beautifully written…Each narrative thread
could stand as a shocking, beautiful and moral short story in its
own right, but Robbie Arnott weaves them seamlessly together into a
satisfying whole.’
*Scotsman*
‘Arnott’s eco-fable, set in a politically broken near future,
explores the constant push-pull that exists between our capacity
for enchantment and our need to exploit what we find…It’s sad and
satisfying.’
*The Times*
‘Full of enchanted realism…[Arnott] writes on behalf of the fierce
dedication necessary for anyone to be her best self. This is a
lofty ambition but it is what great stories demand from us:
figurative blood, figurative tears, and a commitment to witness the
world in all its wonder.’
*Age*
‘The Rain Heron is unlike anything I have ever read. As luminescent
as it is devastating, Arnott’s tightly wrought storytelling reveals
the myriad harms we wreak both on our planet and on each other. It
is mesmerising.’
*Ruth Gilligan*
‘If you like to be amazed, confounded and left wide-eyed in wonder
by an author’s breathtaking audacity and incandescent story-telling
ability, this is a novel for you.’
*Matilda Bookshop*
‘The Rain Heron confirms [Robbie Arnott’s] place as one of
Australia’s leading young novelists…As myths collide with reality,
Arnott’s imaginative dark novel ends with a sobering uplift,
reaffirming that ultimately relationships and kindness matter.’
*Canberra Times*
‘Arnott’s eco-fable, set in a politically broken near future,
explores the constant push-pull that exists between our capacity
for enchantment and our need to exploit what we find. It’s sad and
satisfying.’
*The Times*
‘The real deal…Phenomenally original, an exquisite way with
words.'
*Bri Lee*
‘Powerfully evocative.’
*SA Weekend*
‘An absolutely stunning novel…A tale of myths and legends that also
looks at climate change, corporation, power and how we fight for
survival. I thought it was phenomenal. With Flames and now The Rain
Heron, Robbie Arnott has become one of my absolute favourite
authors.’
*Simon Savidge*
‘One of the most original and unique stories I have maybe ever
read…I absolutely wolfed it down. I loved how much it made me think
about the give-and-take relationship humans have with nature…It is
beautiful.’
*Read Your Feelings*
‘A journey into a perilous world where the horror of human greed
collides with the eloquence of nature.’
*Leah Kaminsky*
'Superb descriptions of nature and weather, of human emotion and
animal instinct...evoke a landscape that is both startlingly
immediate and mysteriously otherworldly: the perfect setting for a
tense narrative of eco-disaster and fragile endurance. At once an
urgent thriller and an elegiac fable, this mesmerizing tale is as
lyrical as it is suspenseful.’
*Kirkus*
‘The Rain Heron is a patient and rooted fable told as naturally as
a tree grows. With timeless and captivating prose, Robbie Arnott
has a talent for making it look easy. I was transfixed.’
*Catherine Lacey, author of The Answers and Pew*
‘Vibrant and violent…Arnott fascinates with fable-like stories and
thoughtful meditations…Beautiful imagery and magical moments.’
*Publishers Weekly*
‘Astonishing...With the intensity of a perfect balance between the
mythic and the real, The Rain Heron keeps turning and twisting,
taking you to unexpected places. A deeply emotional and satisfying
read. Beautifully written.’
*Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation and Borne*
‘The Rain Heron is fantastic. The ripping pace of a thriller
combined with the emotional complexity of a Shakespearian tragedy,
delivered in diamond-sharp prose. It pulls you into a world of
myths come to life, where environmental destruction collides with
sociopolitical decay, and you can't help but feel for all the
characters as they navigate through the wreckage. Highly
recommended.’
*Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of
Saviors*
‘In this lush and harrowing novel, Ren joins Harker, a soldier, in
her search for the mythic rain heron and both are forever changed
by the quest. Robbie Arnott chronicles their voyage through a harsh
and wondrous landscape in gorgeous, lyric prose, while his plot
moves with the swift elegance of an expertly crafted page-turner.
The Rain Heron is a potent fable that speaks urgently to our
present times.’
*Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel*
‘Flames (2018) was one of the more eye-catching debuts of recent
years…the work of a writer with imaginative reach, a vivid sense of
detail, and a willingness to try his hand at a variety of
styles…[The Rain Heron is] more confident and focussed…an exemplary
work of popular fiction…It is a richly imaginative work that
appeals to a sense of wonder.’
*Sydney Review of Books*
‘Amazing…One of the ones that is closest to perfect of all the
Australian books I read this year…An extraordinary book.’
*Cassie McCullagh, RN Bookshelf*
‘Inventive and arresting and full of images that stay with
you.’
*Kate Evans, RN Bookshelf*
‘Reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s visceral The Road, an air of
savage solitude infuses Arnott’s lyrically atmospheric
postapocalyptic novel, where trauma and resilience are connected to
memory and the loss of both self and surroundings.’
*Booklist*
'A gorgeous and spellbinding eco-fantasy.'
*Margaret Kingsbury, Buzzfeed*
‘One of the very, very rare books that completely stunned me…Very
beautiful and a little bit terrifying. It’s an intensely Australian
novel but in a way that is utter unlike any Australian writing
that’s going on at the moment.’
*Jock Serong*
'Astonishing...With the intensity of a perfect balance b/w the
mythic and the real, The Rain Heron keeps turning & twisting,
taking you to unexpected places. A deeply emotional & satisfying
read.’
*Jeff VanderMeer*
‘A dazzlingly visual novel…This is the visuality of myth, in which
images are important not for their beauty or grandeur but for their
resonance, their power to encapsulate deep truths more fully and
potently than any amount of exposition ever could…It’s a powerful
story, beautifully rendered…The Rain Heron is a new story about
learning to heed the old stories.’
*Los Angeles Review of Books*
‘Lush, brutal…Vivid descriptive passages…While the heron is
Arnott's original creation, it feels as ancient and established as
a unicorn…The unexpected notes of hope and redemption for multiple
characters in the finale bring a memorable and satisfying sense of
closure.’
*Shelf Awareness (starred review)*
’Inventive, arresting, original.’
*Kate Evans, ABC RN*
‘This book transported me…Totally absorbing…[The Rain Heron is]
about the internal world of the characters, the acts of brutality
they commit to survive and the survival of their humanity.’
*Lenore Taylor, Guardian*
‘This book astounds me not just for the quite brilliant conception
and rendition of the eponymous rain heron, but also because of the
portraits it offers: of generosity, of tenderness, of a turning
towards rather than away from others…In a desolate social and
ecological landscape, the human networks of compassion make this
novel a thing of rare beauty.’
*Conversation*
’Strange, intriguing and exquisitely written.’
*Miriam Cosic*
‘A sort of dreamy, dystopian, fantasy allegory. It’s vivid and
strange…Definitely worth a read.’
*Tim Carroll, Holy Holy*
‘Robbie Arnott recounts great myths. We see emerge, before our
amazed eyes, a brilliant blue heron, a multicoloured octopus…We
truly dive into this magnificent book.’
*Europe 1*
‘A poetic and harsh atmosphere—this is a captivating book. It’s
alarming, but there are moments of magic.’
*France Bleu Armorique*
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