This Devastating Fever will be published in September 2022.
A novel some 16 years in the making, the spark for This Devastating Fever came when Sophie Cunningham first read Leonard Woolf’s work in 2004. Struck by the atmosphere his writing evoked of an England lunging towards the first world war, Cunningham found herself reminded of the tension in the West after 9/11.
Woolf’s prescience continued over the decades, across the collapse of empire and two world wars. As her fascination with him grew, Cunningham pursued resonances, both personal and global, between the early years of the 1900s and the early years of the 2000s.
Mirroring Cunningham’s own writing journey, a modern-day author, Alice Fox, attempts to write a novel about Leonard Woolf but often finds herself derailed by the distractions of modern living. Through Fox’s at times hapless journey, Cunningham encourages the reader to examine deeper questions about colonial history, racism and what it is like to live through wars, plagues and natural disasters as well as the complexities of what it means to live a full, loving and creative life.
Deeply wry and stunningly original, This Devastating Fever is an observation of what sustains humanity–love, art, nature and history–as well as a reminder of the continual relationship between our past, our present and our future.
First readers
“It takes a phenomenal control of craft, and a keenly honed intelligence, to do what Cunningham has done with this novel: to interrogate politics and art and culture, to take on love and sex and suffering and loyalty, while all the while ensuring that the reader remains buoyant and captivated by narratives that leap across space and time ... I loved this book. I absolutely loved it.” – Christos Tsiolkas (author of The Slap and 7 1⁄2)
“This Devastating Fever is both timely and timeless, a sophisticated work of fiction that addresses the anxieties of the present moment as well as the most profound questions of history, art, love and loss. A magnificent novel." – Emily Bitto (author of The Strays and Wild Abandon)
“This Devastating Fever is remarkable: a thrillingly original, deeply emotional exploration of the complex echoes of history set in the shadow of the looming catastrophe of the future. Sinuous, strange, utterly compelling, it is like no other book you’ll read this year.” – James Bradley (author of Ghost Species and The Resurrectionist)
“This Devastating Fever is thrillingly audacious fiction. Sophie Cunningham’s entwined subjects are profound – Leonard Woolf and colonialism, the crises of the present day, the challenges of creative work – and she writes commandingly and inventively about them all. The result is an extraordinary novel.” – Michelle de Kretser (author of Questions of Travel and Scary Monsters)