Arborescence

By: Rhett Davis

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Paperback | 30 July 2025 | Edition Number 1

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From the award-winning author ofHovering comes a strikingly original novel about what it means to grapple with a world where the very definition of humanity is changing.

She's soaked, her hair is matted, her skin is red, her eyes are closed and her arms are by her side. From her bare feet small roots have formed and reach into the ground, anchoring her. If we tried to pick her up now, we'd need a saw. It would hurt. It might kill her.

Bren works for an obscure company with colleagues he's never met, and who might not be real. His partner, Caelyn, is looking for something more but isn't sure what. The only thing she knows for certain is that humans are breaking the world and she's powerless to do anything about it.

One day Caelyn finds a group in a forest who believe that if they stand still for long enough they will become trees. And then she discovers another . . . The idea is spreading. Soon, people go missing and trees appear in unlikely places. Is it really possible?

As cities decay and the world becomes greener, Caelyn sees nothing to fear. Bren is not so sure. Finally, they must ask themselves what they're prepared to give up - and if they are ready to stand still.

Arborescence is a compelling, deeply moving novel about connection and disconnection, ambition and apathy, loss and hope, and how we don't always know what we have until the damage is done.

About the Author

Rhett Davis is from the Wadawurrung Country of Geelong and its nearby coastal towns. His debut novel, Hovering , won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction. Rhett lives in Geelong with his partner and two talkative cats.

Industry Reviews

'A balm and an urgent whisper of hope. This is a book to help us believe that all is not lost. Extraordinary' - KATE MILDENHALL

'Dazzling, profound, beautiful. A devastating and unforgettable elegy for the planet' - CHRIS FLYNN

'A strange and compelling exploration of our current moment. Arborescence is part Sally Rooney, part Stephen King. It reads like a thriller but has the tenderness and insight of poetry' - BEN RAWLENCE

'Original, mind-bending and uplifting. I loved this beautiful, feral book so much, I wanted to walk into its pages and never look back' - INGA SIMPSON

'Every now and then a book comes along that resists a neat definition. Hovering is just such a read . . . this fascinating, compelling novel will challenge readers' - GOOD READING

'In the mould of Jennifer Egan or AM Homes . . . [a] slick debut' - THE GUARDIAN

'Original and blackly funny' - THE AGE

'Immediately striking on both a conceptual and a formal level' - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

'Davis's writing is exhilarating, surprising but never heavy-handed . . . one of the most exciting books of this year'

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