Strandloper

A captivating novel by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker

Based on a true story, Strandloper tells the extraordinary tale of a nineteenth-century Englishman, William Buckley, who was convicted and transported to Australia. Refusing to accept his fate he escaped and lived among the Aborigines for thirty years.

In this visionary novel, Alan Garner is as true to William the Cheshire bricklayer and William the Aboriginal spiritual leader, as William is true to his fate. The result is extraordinary.

Reviews

'A remarkable feat of literary imagination' Sunday Times

'A work of terrible beauty' Observer

'Strandloper's vision is cosmic and as elusive as a rainbow… The ending gathers the words into a powerful cry for wisdom that recognises the ineffable' Sydney Morning Herald

'A novel as uncompromising and bright as anything this talented author has ever produced' Daily Telegraph

'I know of little in recent fiction more moving than the final section of this novel… Garner's ambitious subject is matched by an astounding mastery of technique' New Statesman

'Garner is his own man … taut, powerful, credible' Penelope Lively, Independent

About the author

Alan Garner is an English novelist best known for his fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. He was born in Cheshire in 1934 and his childhood was spent in Alderley Edge, where his family has lived for more than four hundred years. His fourth book, The Owl Service, won The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, and was made into a TV series. It has established itself as a contemporary classic and Garner as a writer of distinction. In 2022, his novel Treacle Walker was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was awarded the OBE in 2001 for his services to literature.