Fever of Animals

Winner of the Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award 2014 'For nearly five years I have wanted to write something about the surrealist painter Emil Bafdescu: about his paintings, one of which hangs in a little restaurant in Melbourne, and about his disappearance, which is still a mystery. But this is probably not going to be the book I imagined. Nothing has quite worked out the way I planned.' With the inheritance he received upon his father's death, Miles has come to Europe on the trail of the Romanian surrealist, who disappeared into a forest in 1967. But in trying to unravel the mystery of Bafdescu's secret life, Miles must also reckon with his own. Faced with a language and a landscape that remain stubbornly out of reach, and condemned to wait for someone who may never arrive, Miles is haunted by thoughts of his ex-girlfriend, Alice, and the trip they took to Venice that ended their relationship. Uncanny, occasionally absurd, and utterly original, Fever of Animalsis a beautifully written meditation on art and grief. 'Exceptional . . . a worldly book, full of art and ideas, and yet so intimate that it feels like a conversation with a dear, intelligent friend . . . masterful in its treatment of time and memory . . . Allinson is destined for a cult following.' Emily Bitto, Stella Prize-winning author of The Strays 'Heartfelt, darkly comic, and nothing short of extraordinary. Allinson's novel is a rarity - fearless, finely judged, and alive with mystery,' Andrew Croome, Vogel Prize-winning author of Midnight EmpireandDocument Z