Dusk
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4.1 • 65 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE ABIA LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
WINNER OF THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2025
WINNER OF THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS FOR FICTION 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKPEOPLE ADULT FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
SHORTLISTED ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE MARGARET AND COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD 2025
'Magnificent' Tim Winton
In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.
'Dusk is a sublime novel of loss and redemption, fight and surrender, that left me in absolute awe. Robbie Arnott's prose is incandescent, his storytelling mythic and filled with a wisdom that extends beyond the page. With Dusk, he asserts himself as one of Australia's finest literary writers.' Hannah Kent
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In Dusk, masterful Australian author Robbie Arnott delivers a quietly powerful tale set in 19th-century Tasmania, where 37-year-old twins Iris and Floyd set off on horseback to hunt a deadly puma. With a large bounty on the animal’s head, the twins’ journey becomes a test of survival as they navigate the glorious yet treacherous landscape and fend off cunning rivals. Arnott gradually peels back the layers of the twins’ past, revealing the family history of criminality and affliction that continues to haunt them. These are two complex and deeply intertwined souls through whom Arnott delivers poignant reflections on life and the landscape, exploring the balance of nature and humanity and questioning what freedom means in a world filled with brutality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Paternal twins plunge themselves into danger after joining the hunt for a bloodthirsty puma in this arresting novel from Australian author Arnott (The Rain Heron). Iris Renshaw and her brother, Floyd, are 37-year-old vagabonds who travel from place to place in search of work, food, and shelter. When they learn of a hefty bounty for a man-killing puma named Dusk, they leap at the opportunity. As they traverse the expansive and unforgiving Australian highlands on horseback, Floyd's chronic back trouble tethers him to Iris. The dynamic is nothing new; their tight-knit bond originates from looking out for each other during their hardscrabble upbringing, when they were raised by violent and alcoholic parents. Now, they are happy to have fled another town where "nobody they knew wanted to know them." As the puma continues her slaughter, the twins head farther into the bush along with fellow bounty hunter Patrick. Arnott imbues his descriptions of the pumas and Tasmanian highlands with an air of myth, as the twins pick up local lore on their travels, and the slow-burning narrative gains heat as the twins' attempts to track the puma are jeopardized by the devious Patrick and others. The striking landscape descriptions ("pumas stalked the wet air; hunters bled into the clouds. Great caches of ancient bones blended into the whiteness") are a perfect fit for the story's primal treachery. Readers will be utterly captivated by this atmospheric tale of danger and survival.
Customer Reviews
Feral cat people
Author
Tasmanian advertising copywriter and award winning novelist. His second novel, ‘The Rain Heron’ (2020), was a gem. This is his fourth.
Setting
Not specified, but it sounds a lot like Tasmania, or Van Diemen’s Land, early 19th century
Precis
Twins Iris and Floyd, the children of convicts, are living in the lowlands when they hear a puma — the titular Dusk — is killing shepherds (sheep, too presumably) in the highlands. Someone offers a bounty. The twins, who are unemployed and impecunious, join the hunt. Existential conflicts, both literal and figurative follow, along with some interpersonal ones. First Nations people play a minor role. Parental advisory: Magic realism.
Writing
Mr A writes beautifully, without sacrificing the story on the altar of purple prose, unlike a number of authors I could name. While I’m not a big fan of magic realism, he nailed it in ‘The Rain Heron.’ He falls short of that standard here IMO, although not by much.
Bottom line
Early colonial gothic