The Rewilding (Donna M Cameron, Transit Lounge)

Jagger Eckerman, the scion of a corrupt construction mogul and protagonist of Donna M Cameron’s second novel, blows his life up one morning by sending a fateful email whistleblowing the illegal waste disposal practices of his father’s company. Cue the frantic upheaval of his life, an abandonment of modern trappings to live life on the run, and a suspenseful car chase that lasts for the near entirety of The Rewilding. Cameron’s sophomore effort combines a few genres in one: thriller, comedy, social commentary and, once Jagger chances upon fierce eco-warrior Nia, an enemies-to-lovers romance. Jagger and Nia’s pursuers, whom they never seem able to evade, are an apt allegory for the planet’s impending collapse, one of the broader preoccupations of the novel. Jagger’s escape from menacing forces is signposted by extreme climate events—an unseasonal cyclone, bushfires blanketing cities in smog—while Nia’s involvement in Earth Rebellion (a clear stand-in for Extinction Rebellion) underlines both the power and limitations of such civil disobedience movements. While the novel starts out highly mired in the minutiae of Jagger’s life, it ripples out into an exploration of grief, place, mental health, xenophobia and the corrosive nature of capitalism. The book’s deep reverence for nature and its unshakeable hope for our collective future will appeal to readers of Kate Mildenhall and Laura Jean McKay.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Sonia Nair is a Melbourne-based writer and critic. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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