This Devastating Fever

Sophie Cunningham AM is the author of seven books, across multiple fiction and nonfiction, children and adults and include City of Trees - Essays on life, death and the need for a forest, and Melbourne. She is also editor of the collection Fire, Flood, Plague: Australian writers respond to 2020. Sophie's former roles include as a book publisher and editor, chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council, editor of the literary journal Meanjin, and co-founder of The Stella Prize celebrating women's writing. She is now an adjunct professor at RMIT University's non/fiction Lab. In 2019, Sophie was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to literature.

'This Devastating Fever is remarkable: a thrillingly original, deeply emotional exploration of the complex echoes of history set in the shadow of the looming catastrophe of the future. Sinuous, strange, utterly compelling, it is like no other book you'll read this year.' -- James Bradley, author of Ghost Species and The Resurrectionist 'Brilliant and unlike anything I've ever read before. It draws on archived letters and diary entries and the edges of what is real and what is imagined are delightfully blurred. It's sharply layered, clever and darkly, dryly hilarious.' -- Eliza Henry-Jones, author of Salt and Skin and In the Quiet 'A book of big ideas that reads as a page turner. I was thrilled to keep returning to the page.' -- Kate Mildenhall, author of Skylarking and The Mother Fault 'This Devastating Fever contains the joy and pain and terror of caring deeply for another living thing: whether a loved one whose mind is failing, or cicadas destined to be incinerated in the Black Summer fires. It is also about the need to read carefully, write carefully, and think carefully - about the past and how we respond to it, and about what we owe the dead, the living, and the future.' * The Conversation * 'This Devastating Fever feels a bit like a blast from the past and in the best way possible.' * The Urban List * 'I can honestly say this isn't like any book I have ever read before, yet couldn't put down.' * RUSSH * 'This Devastating Fever is an extraordinary achievement.' * Kill Your Darlings *