Hinterland

Award-winning author Steven Lang’s latest novel, Hinterland, expertly explores small town politics and the way in which love and desire, ambition and other entanglements complicate life.

He tells the story of Winderran, a picturesque old farming district that has transformed itself into a tourist destination where art galleries, cafés and real estate agencies line the main street. The old farming families have had to make room for the tree-changers, retirees and wealthy developers who’ve come to live there. Now a controversial dam project’s been announced and the community is fragmenting along unpredictable lines.

Tensions rise as the town debates whether the dam is beneficial or just another exercise in money and power.

With egos, the environment and wealth at stake, traditional loyalties and values are pushed to the brink. Lovers and old friends are forced to choose sides, jeopardising relationships as these dramas play out alongside the political questions that will determine the future of the town.

Told from alternating points of view, Hinterland is, essentially, a love story that simultaneously canvasses environmental politics, social cohesion, moral choices, ultra-nationalism, the ethics of fidelity in marriage, terminal illness and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Steven Lang has created a rich, satisfying and captivating work of social commentary, human drama and political debate. Like Tim Winton, Lang is a talented place-painter, deftly capturing contemporary Australia in all its natural beauty and conflicting ambitions.

PRAISE FOR STEVEN LANG
‘His best writing arises from his emotional engagement with place and his tender examination of his damaged characters’ capacity for love.’ The Weekend Australian

About the Author

STEVEN LANG is the author of two novels, An Accidental Terrorist, which won Premiers’ Literary Awards in both Queensland and New South Wales, and 88 Lines about 44 Women, which was shortlisted for both the Christina Stead and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards for Fiction. Steven co-directs Outspoken, an extended writers’ festival taking the form of occasional conversations with major Australian and international writers. He lives in Maleny, in South East Queensland.