A rural thriller from the winner of the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize.


This is a not-to-be-missed reading experience.
HAYLEY SCRIVENOR

A gothic thriller exploring rural Australia’s simultaneous celebration of harsh country and stoic people – a tension that forces its inhabitants to dangerous breaking points.

On a remote property in western NSW, nine-year-old Parker fears that something is wrong with his brain. His desperate attempts to control this internal chaos spark a series of events that gallop from his control in deadly and devastating ways.

Years later, Parker, now a father himself, returns to the bushland he grew up in for a camping trip with old friends. When this reunion descends into chaos amid revelations of unresolved fear, guilt and violence, Parker must finally address the consequences of his childhood actions.

Winner of the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize, James McKenzie Watson writes short and novel-length fiction with a focus on health and rural Australia. Denizen was informed by his upbringing in regional NSW. James co-hosts the health and writing podcast James and Ashley Stay at Home and works as a nurse.