Between a Wolf and a Dog

WINNER OF THE 2017 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION

WINNER OF THE 2016 UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND FICTION BOOK AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 STELLA PRIZE

A stunning, award-winning novel about the complexities of family relationships, and ultimately, what it means to be alive.

Outside, the rain continues unceasing; silver sheets sluicing down, the trees and shrubs soaking and bedraggled, the earth sodden, puddles overflowing, torrents coursing onwards, as the darkness slowly softens with the dawn.

Ester is a family therapist with an appointment book that catalogues the anxieties of the middle class: loneliness, relationships, death. She spends her days helping others find happiness, but her own family relationships are tense and frayed. Estranged from both her sister, April, and her ex-husband, Lawrence, Ester wants to fall in love again. Meanwhile, April is struggling through her own directionless life; Lawrence’s reckless past decisions are catching up with him; and Ester and April's mother, Hilary, is about to make a choice that will profoundly affect them all.

Taking place largely over one rainy day in Sydney, and rendered with the evocative and powerful prose Blain is known for, Between a Wolf and a Dog is a celebration of the best in all of us—our capacity to live in the face of ordinary sorrows, and to draw strength from the transformative power of art. Ultimately, it is a joyous tribute to the beauty of being alive.

PRAISE FOR GEORGIA BLAIN

“[An] elegant, intelligent and affecting novel from a writer at the height of her powers.”
—The Saturday Paper

“Like all her novels, Between a Wolf and a Dog explores the often unarticulated complexities of the intersection of the personal and the political with exquisite grace and intelligence.”
—Australian Book Review