The Natural Way of Things

She hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, ‘I need to know where I am.‘ The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised. He says, almost in sympathy, ‘Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.‘ Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of a desert. Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious jailers. Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: in each girl‘s past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man. They pray for rescue but as the hours turn into days and the days into weeks and months, it becomes clear only the girls can rescue themselves. WINNER OF THE STELLA PRIZE ‘A prescient feminist horror novel you need to read ‘ Jezebel ‘Extraordinary‘ Sydnesy Morning Herald ‘Ferocious‘ NPR