The Roving Party

Praise for The Roving Party

Winner of the Australian/Vogel Literary Award
Winner of the Tasmanian Literary Awards’ Margaret Scott Prize
Winner of the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
Winner of the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist Award


“One of the best first novels I’ve read all year . . . The urgency of the chase, carefully chiseled language, exotic characters and dangerous conflict with each other—it’s all here.”
—Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered

“[An] exceedingly powerful debut. Wilson’s compelling story carries us through forest and over plains, leaving a trail of dead men.”
—Chicago Tribune

“The grim implacability of nature and end-of-the-world remoteness that haunts Wilson’s novel and those of his countryman Richard Flanagan have inspired the label ‘Tasmanian Gothic.'”
—The Seattle Times

“Wilson presents an emotionally harrowing, sometimes brutally violent exploration of cruelty and compassion in a desolate land. Wilson’s psychological insights are electric; the chilling ways in which each member of the roving party must grapple with his sense of humanity makes for particularly fascinating reading. Wilson’s novel will appeal to readers who appreciate intricate plotting, rich character studies, and poetic depictions of nature.”
—Library Journal 

“A grim and bloody tone poem . . . Difficult and intriguing.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Australian first-novelist Wilson writes beautifully, equally expert in describing the magical land as he is with Aboriginal dialect.”
—Booklist

“[A] grim and astonishing novel.”
—Australian Book Review

“An extremely skilful book telling a horror story, and the young writer’s maturity takes your breath away . . . not for the fainthearted . . . Wilson writes in spectacularly beautiful prose.”
—Courier Mail

“The Roving Party is distinguished by Wilson’s tactful and restrained account of a brutal episode in the history of the conflict between European newcomers and the original inhabitants of Van Diemen’s Land. His restraint renders the horrors he depicts far more vivid and their ethical implications much more telling than other melodramatic, at times tub-thumping, approaches . . . evocative and impressive.”
—Sydney Morning Herald