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Louis NowraContemporary Literature · Drama
Into That Forest
Synopsis
Narrated by Hannah O'Brien at seventy-six, looking back on the defining event of her childhood, Into That Forest opens when six-year-old Hannah, her parents, and her prim neighbor's daughter Becky are caught in a flash flood during a river picnic in 1890s Tasmania. Hannah's parents drown; the two girls wash ashore alone in the bush and are found — and effectively adopted — by a female Tasmanian tiger.
Taken in by the tiger and her mate, whom the girls come to call Dave and Corinna, Hannah and Becky spend four years living as the tigers do: moving on all fours, shedding their human clothes and speech, hunting for meat.
When two men eventually track them down, intent on "rescuing" the girls and returning them to civilization, Hannah and Becky have to decide whether they still belong to the human world at all.
Louis Nowra's novel is a stark, unsentimental account of survival and the blurred line between human and animal, set against the historical backdrop of the thylacine's disappearance from Tasmania.
How it reads
Prose complexity 4/10
Content warnings (1)
Death Of A Parent
Genres
Characters
Hannah O'BrienProtagonist
The narrator, recalling the four years she spent living wild with Tasmanian tigers as a child.
BeckySupporting
Hannah's childhood friend, orphaned alongside her in the same flood.
Frequently asked questions
What inspired the author to write this story?
Louis Nowra developed the concept after discussing the phenomenon of feral children with film director Vincent Ward, drawing inspiration from historical accounts of children raised by animals and the painting Mrs Fraser by Sidney Nolan. The author also noted that his own childhood experience of recovering from a severe head injury, which required him to relearn how to speak and think, influenced his interest in the theme of language loss.
Did this book receive any literary recognition?
The novel was shortlisted for the 2012 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the 2013 Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
