Floodline

What remains after everything is washed away?

Funny, moving and utterly compelling, Floodline tells of the unexpected salvation that can be found on the edge of disaster.

When the city of Horneville is destroyed by a flood on the eve of a huge gay Mardi Gras, Mikey Brown – the feisty, sexy and dynamic host of a Christian shopping channel – knows exactly what she needs to do. Taking her sons with her, she sets out on a grand mercy mission. The journey is more than a flood clean-up for Mikey - she wants to save the city and teach the godless inhabitants a lesson. Her husband was lost to her after attempting to 'mission' to this same festival and this is her chance to lay the past to rest. Mustard - an enthusiastic, ebullient, 8 year old - doesn't believe his father is dead. In fact, he is determined to find him and knows that Horneville is the place to start looking. If anyone can bring him back, Mustard can – and his determination to do so will lead him to terrible danger.

Down in the city, the floodwater surrounding the Horneville City Hospital is steadily rising, turning what has been a place of refuge into a disaster zone. Deep in the hospital chaos, Nurse Gina Donaldson is forced to make a life and death decision with shattering repercussions.

The arrival of Mikey’s little troupe helps Gina find hope in the most unlikely places. Both Mikey and Gina must stare down their pasts in order to find salvation, but will they have the courage?

Read Caroline Baum's Review

Kathryn Heyman's latest novel taps into very recent memories of natural disaster and the way people behave under extreme duress.

The setting is a flood, much like the recent ones in Queensland. So it's not hard to imagine the scenes of chaos in a Brisbane hospital as a nurse is forced to make triage decisions about who to save when resources start to run out.

Faith, hope, charity all come into play in this satirical yet dark morality tale.

About the Author

Kathryn Heyman is the author of four novels, including The Accomplice and Captain Starlight's Apprentice, published internationally and in translation. She has received an Arts Council of England Writers Award, the Wingate and the Southern Arts Awards, and been nominated for the Orange Prize, the Scottish Writer of the Year Award, the Edinburgh Fringe Critic's Awards, the Kibble Prize, and the West Australian Premier's Book Awards. She has written several radio plays for BBC radio, including adaptations of her own work. Her fifth novel, The Floodline, will be published in 2013.