(#gifted @scribe_uk) I was feeling brave (read: crazy) enough to read a book about a viral flu pandemic during lockdown, and I'm happy to say the courage/stupidity paid off! The Animals in That Country is an original, creative, at times incredibly frustrating debut, but that frustration is worth it.

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Set in Australia (I should read more books set in Australia, especially if the characters are like Jean), in a future where ZooFlu is sweeping the country, a viral phenomenon that allows communication between humans and animals. But if you think this entails you finally finding out all the cute things your dog thinks, you are mistaken. We hear from bloodthirsty rats, ominous crows, darkly playful crocodiles, and of course, Sue. Sue the Dingo, companion to Jean for much of this novel, both fiercely protective and just plain fierce.

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Jean is a human, although just barely clinging on. She's old, grizzled, foul-mouthed and with a strong dependency on the drink. An unlikely hero, and one you will surely not forget in a hurry. The language McKay uses to denote the communication between humans and animals is quirky, bold, and often nonsensical at first. This is what frustrated me, but it also gives the novel its grimness - this is no Disney shit.

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Even if I did get lost a few times, I always got pulled back into the narrative, which sees Jean travelling cross-country with Sue in search of her granddaughter, really the only human Jean gives a shit about - and I loved their relationship. At times it was oddly eerie to be lost in a story where the world is falling to pieces, hostility on the rise, supermarket shelves empty... only to come back to reality and realise a lot of it is mirrored in our current situation.

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But this book is sufficiently strange and different enough to not exacerbate my current anxieties - and it's not out until June so even if you're feeling iffy about pandemic fiction right now, we've got a few months to hopefully get back to some sense of normality. This is a creative and bold debut with unforgettable characters that I definitely recommend!