Spirit Wrestlers

Thomas Shapcott

HB (Debossed) 280 PP 230 x 150 1862546452 $39.95 Fiction APN 9781862546455 Wakefield Press July 2004

Spirit Wrestlers is a haunting, poetic novel by one of Australia’s finest writers. It tells of the arrival in rural Australia of a cult religious group and of the effect the group’s mysterious, closed existence has on surrounding communities and individual lives. Two teenagers, Johann and Ivan, the local and the newcomer, discover things in common, and differences. A decade on, Johann is involved in the Vietnam War, and Ivan has escaped into the corruption of city life. Their reunion forms the climax of the novel, a parallel to the Biblical story of Jacob wrestling the Angel. And then there is Olga, Ivan’s young sister, who is now grown up. A novel about faith, and competing faiths, acts of terror and acts of peace, Spirit Wrestlers speaks straight to the heart about our unsettled, dangerous world.

Thomas Shapcott is one of Australia’s most highly regarded authors. He has published 10 novels, including Theatre of Darkness, Magnum Opus Shines and Mona’s Gift, several non-fiction books and 14 volumes of poetry. He has won numerous awards, including the Patrick White Award and an OA.

‘Spirit Wrestlers is a strong, character-driven journey with a well-drawn landscape and a satisfying pace.’ – Krissy Kneen, Australian Bookseller and Publisher

‘Shapcott shows considerable skill in keeping a number of metaphysical balls in the air . . . certainly [a] brave attempt to drag contemporary fiction out of its almost total preoccupation with the temporal.’ – Andrew Riemer, Sydney Morning Herald