Wedding Bush Road

Praise for Wedding Bush Road:

"Francis's prose is urgent and at times breathless, packed with sense-rich descriptions. Poetic images swirl off the page . . . Wedding Bush Road envelopes us in a strange world where nothing can be taken for granted. This is a rich, beautifully textured novel, unforgettable in its setting and the people who live there." Los Angeles Review of Books

"Francis proves that this reckless landscape also has a darkly seductive pull...Domestic drama with an offbeat, rural flavor." —Kirkus

"In prose as severely beautiful as the land depicted, Francis takes us into the bleeding heart of family. Well recommended for many readers." Library Journal

"A rich and moving and resonant story about the debts we owe to the people and places of our past, with writing so evocative that it feels like burying your face in the Australian soil. David Francis has given us a masterpiece, a novel for anyone who's ever left their hometown." Nathan Hill, author of The Nix

“David Francis writes with precision and sensitivity about that most complicated of subjects: Home. Amid unforgettable landscapes and characters that are both beautiful and violent, Wedding Bush Road grapples with discontent and restlessness. Francis turns a sharp but generous eye on those who won't leave and those who can't stay, reminding us that family can be the most dangerous place of all.” —Mark Sarvas, author of Harry, Revised

"The miracle of Wedding Bush Road is that each deeply flawed character is also right. In the end we come to feel that beneath so much fury, the troubled and idiosyncratic life of each character is driven by a logic that is emotional and likely also moral. That this is the human condition.. Compelling and honest, this is the novel's greatest gift. This is the masterful feat achieved here in these pages."—Mary Rakow, author of This Is Why I Came

“Here’s an Australia so tactile that the page itself begins to feel textured. Francis ably tells a story of a man’s internal struggle as expressed through conflicts as rooted and primal as the soil. A dynamic and inviting read.” —Aimee Bender, author of The Color Master

“I have known David Francis and his work for a long time, and I think Wedding Bush Road is his best book yet!” —Jane Smiley

“With an eye for the transcendent detail, and a pitch perfect ear, David Francis gorgeously summons a farm in rural Australia. The wonderfully complex relationships among its inhabitants reflect nothing less than the tensions wrought by the country’s fractious history of colonialism. Who belongs to the land and to whom does the land belong? These are the uneasy questions raised by this searching, lovely novel.” —Marisa Silver, author of Mary Coin

“A psychologically acute tale of the decline of a patrician Australian family and the forces arrayed against them. Class, sex and land knit together in this compellingly modern take on a timeless struggle. Gorgeous, dangerous and utterly captivating. ” —Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint It Black

“Who hasn't packed a bag and headed home? Wedding Bush Road is a beautiful, intelligent book about love, loss, and the unforgettable landscapes that made us who we are.” —David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife

Praise for The Great Inland Sea:

“Beautiful and moving.” —Times Literary Supplement

“As unforgiving and seductive as Riverina itself.” —Los Angeles Times

“Magically lyrical…a truly rewarding literary find.” —Denver Post

"...gracefully [and] affecting first novel." - Washington Post

"David Francis may not be a poet, but he sure writes like one. His prose is lean but dreamy, full of sensual detail...It's all done with skill and elegance." - San Francisco Chronicle

“Francis’s language confirms and compliments the plot…The guiding insight of the book [is] that there is something deep, something meaningful, about the process by which humanity is achieved even when so much has been stripped away.” —The Believer

“An elegant first novel..the author’s evocative images of Australia —the harsh yet compelling landscape, the searing heat, the inescapable dust, the ever present insects — and his spare, elegiac style set this novel apart from most coming of age stories as Day’s innocence is refreshed with maturity and hopefulness.” — Booklist, starred review

“As spare as the outback, this is a quietly evocative and at times even poetic first novel.” —Library Journal

“Spare prose, startling images, and an emotional landscape as harsh as the setting.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Arresting and mysterious.” —Jane Smiley

“Loneliness and loss well up like groundwater in this spare, haunting novel. David Francis is a master of elegant understatement.” —Janet Fitch

“A compelling dance across a stark and evocative landscape. Each step reveals a new perspective on the characters’ humanity and, at times, their brutality.” —Manil Suri

“A truly amazing novel.” —Susan Straight

"A spare, dark, brilliant book. Clear the day to read it." - Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park

Praise for Stray Dog Winter:

Best Book of the Year (The Advocate)
Winner Audiophile Award 2008
Best Australian novel of the year (Australian Literary Review)
LAMBDA Literary Award Finalist

“Francis’s prose has the sparse elegance of a Xeriscape. Every detail holds water.” – Los Angeles Magazine

“Truly extraordinary….the tension builds unrelentingly….sensuous, musical, a joy to read.” —LAMBDA Literary Journal

"unstoppable inevitable momentum...a haunting KGB tale" Time Out Chicago

“A stylish new literary thriller…Francis does a brilliant job of building and sustaining tension.” —The Advocate

"A stylish thriller." WBUR Boston, Best Reads of 2008

“Filled with suspense, intrigue, and a good deal of sexiness, Stray Dog Winter is a novel of breathless moments, passion, politics, and atmosphere so thick you can feel it." IndieBound: Indie Favorites

“Vibrant with the discordant images of political repression and smoldering sexuality, Francis ethereally transports readers to a preternatural time where nothing and no one are what they seem.” – Booklist

“An impressive political thriller, beautifully crafted with a spectacular climax.” - Australian Book Review

"[An] excellent thriller....original and unconventional....Francis is masterly at building suspense and a palpable sense of intrigue." – Sydney Morning Herald

“Evocative and mysterious...full of a menacing beauty.” - Curledup.com

“A dark, chilly thriller…Francis makes you feel every dropping degree…Don’t ask how it ends…” - Lavender Magazine

“Taut, suspenseful….elegantly written and perfectly executed…original, gripping and chilling, by one of Australia’s most promising young writers” - Tucson Citizen

“Stray Dog Winter is a remarkable achievement on many levels, from the poetic elegance of the prose to the atmospheric setting of the Russian capital in winter…David Francis is a writer of considerable skill…he combines a literary style with a compelling narrative about love passion and betrayal.” —The Canberra Times

“Stray Dog Winter is a disquietingly well-crafte…