Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not
your usual grandma. She's never been good at getting on with other
humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Instead, she
surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback
wildlife park. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a
particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.
As disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean
realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its
victims begin to understand the language of animals — first mammals,
then birds and insects, too. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable
voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds,
including Jean's infected son, Lee. When he takes off with Kimberly,
heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin.
Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they
find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal
apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species.
This week's book is The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay and we'll not be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury — contact us for details.
As we're coming to the end of our reading list, we'll be choosing books at the meeting. You may like to consider the unread books list and the unreadable books list.