I would love to reach into Andrew McGahan’s head and see just where this inventive, politically spiked, genre-bending Australian author gets his inspiration. McGahan’s writing is a pleasure to read, he’s a great storyteller and Wonders of a Godless World – a wild leap away from his Miles Franklin-winning book The White Earth – will not disappoint.

The story begins innocently enough: on a tropical island a man is transferred, unconscious and unknown, to a run-down hospital for the mentally ill. From here, McGahan launches the reader on a mind-bending journey as the comatose stranger begins to affect the other patients and staff, and the island is thrown into havoc when volcanic eruptions, bizarre murders and shocking mutilations take place.

This book is totally unexpected and you won’t be able to put it down. It’s a thriller, an environmental plea, a book about madness, mind control, nature, space travel and just what it means to live forever. If you’re looking to escape the mundane, I recommend you pick up a copy of this book and dive into McGahan’s astonishing imagination.