'On beautiful Fraser Island in 1882, the population of the Badtjala people is in sharp decline following a run of brutal massacres. When German man Louis Müller offers to sail eighteen-year-old Bonny to Europe, along with twenty-two year old Jurano and his fifteen-year-old niece, Donordera, the proud and headstrong Bonny agrees.
'Accompanied by Müller’s bright and grieving daughter, Hilda, the group begins their journey to perform in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris and eventually London in the hope of seeking help from the Queen of England.
'While crowds in Europe are enthusiastic to see the unique dances, singing, fights, and pole climbing from the oldest culture in the world, the attention is relentless, and the fascination of scientists intrusive. Bonny is not a passive victim, and starts to earn money from mocking the crowd, but when disaster strikes, he must find a way to return home.
'A story of love, bravery, culture and the fight against injustice, Paris Savages brings a little-known part of history to blazing life, from one of Australia’s most intriguing novelists.' (Publication summary)
Epigraph: the human zoo is not the exhibition of savagery but its construction
[le zoo humain n'est pas l'exhibition de la sauvagerie,
mais la construction de celle-ci]
- Bancel et al, Zoos Humains
'For the white Australian writer, the question of how to portray Aboriginal history in fiction is a fraught one. Novels of this kind require the author to cross cultural boundaries in an attempt to imagine the subjectivity of someone entirely unlike themselves. This difficult task is further complicated by the gaps in the archival record that introduce a range of trade-offs and decisions into the creative process.' (Introduction)
'For the white Australian writer, the question of how to portray Aboriginal history in fiction is a fraught one. Novels of this kind require the author to cross cultural boundaries in an attempt to imagine the subjectivity of someone entirely unlike themselves. This difficult task is further complicated by the gaps in the archival record that introduce a range of trade-offs and decisions into the creative process.' (Introduction)
