Late last year the lovely people at Scribe publishing in Australia sent me a review copy of Chris Womersley's Bereft. A month or so later a second one popped through the letter box, courtesy of the British publisher Quercus. That means I have an extra copy I don't need — and I'm offering it up to the interweb.
The book has been shortlisted for pretty much every award going in Australia and won two of them: the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the 2011 Indie Award for Best Novel.
It will be published here in the UK on Thursday (January 12) — and I know there are a few British bloggers already reading it, so be prepared for a slew of reviews very soon!
Here's a synopsis from the author's website:
"It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging through Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There are rumours it is the end of the world.
"In the NSW town of Flint, Quinn Walker returns to the home he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of an unspeakable crime. Aware that his father and uncle would surely hang him, Quinn hides in the hills surrounding Flint. There, he meets a mysterious young girl called Sadie Fox, who encourages him to seek justice — and seems to know more about the crime than she should.
"A searing gothic novel of love, longing, and revenge."
To be in with a chance of winning this book simply leave a comment below by 14.00 GMT on Friday January 13, 2012.
I'll then choose the winner using an online random number generator (or some such).
The giveaway is open to anyone, regardless of where you live, but you can only enter once. And do note, I cannot accept email entries. Good luck.
