Every Wild Soul

The winner of the inaugural Australian Fiction Prize, Every Wild Soul is a lyrical and compelling tale of secrets, survival, and the healing power of nature.

On Tasmania's wild and remote Maria Island, eighteen-year-old Min is trying to break free from her controlling, overly protective father, the island's head ranger. Her unlikely ally is Werner, an eccentric, homeless biologist who has always taught her to care for the imperilled natural world around her - even as it sets them against Piers, her father, who has his own plans. When Lucie, a journalist haunted by her family's role in the thylacine's extinction, arrives from London to investigate the island's Tasmanian devil conservation project, she is drawn into the island's rare beauty and mysteries, discovering a community grappling with the tension between progress and preservation, care and control. After a tempestuous storm sees a stranger wash ashore, a chain of events is set in motion that ends in a shocking and mysterious death, only weeks later.

A breathtakingly beautiful and gripping exploration of humanity's connection to the wild - and the hope that can be born from even the darkest of times - Every Wild Soul is an absorbing and evocative exploration of resilience, rewilding and healing, a story with nature and courage at its heart. Perfect for readers of Where the Crawdads Sing, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Prodigal Summer, and Wild Dark Shore, it is a vivid and haunting ode to the wild in all of us.

'Expansive and engrossing' Books+Publishing

'Johnson writes rich ecological fiction attuned to the beauty and interdependence of nature. Yet she brings as intricate a vision to the emotional architecture of this coming-of-age narrative ... [and] gently insists on its mystery and power to inspire.' Sydney Morning Herald

'Every Wild Soul confirms Katherine Johnson as one of Australia's most accomplished literary novelists writing about Tasmania ... It is an ambitious and complex novel that acknowledges environmental loss while insisting that awe remains one of our few acts of defiance; awe might yet mark the beginning of repair and renewal for ourselves and the world around us.' Australian Book Review

'A heartfelt and intriguing novel set in a wild and beautiful place. A wonderful read.' Favel Parrett

'A tender, aching story of our elemental need for wilderness.' Robyn Mundy

'A sense of wonder for the land and sea pervades this beautifully crafted novel. It is a work of passion and ferocity - also of gentleness - that, in bringing to life the rewilding of an island and the people who live there, offers a spark of hope to us all.' Suzanne Leal

'A thrilling journey into the wildness of landscape and heart, longing and desire, captivity and freedom. Science meets love. Nature meets redemption. Cleverly woven and beautifully written. An intricate portrayal of the fragility of human relationships and the natural world. Lyrical, mysterious, unexpected, Every Wild Soul will bring you closer to nature and the wilderness that hides inside all of us.' Karen Viggers