The Great Undoing

How long can you run from a lie, if that lie is what your life is founded on?

In a near future all identity information is encoded in digital language. Nations know where everyone is, all the time. Not everyone agrees with this constant surveillance, and when the system is hijacked and shut down, all global borders are closed. The world is no longer connected, and there is no back-up plan to establish belonging, ownership or trade.

Scarlet Friday, whose job is to correct historical record, is stranded on the wrong side of the globe. Befriended by a stranger, she grabs an old, faded history book and writes her own version over the top—a record of the Great Undoing on the run.

But in deciding what truth to tell Scarlet must face her own history. How do we navigate identity when it is all a lie? She must reckon with her past before she can imagine her future.

About the Author

Sharlene Allsopp was born and raised on Bundjalung country and dreams of capturing that elusive perfect sentence-preferably liquored up in a Champagne field in France. She studies Writing and Literature at the University of Queensland, and loves her role as an occasional tutor with the ATSIS Unit on campus. She developed her debut novel as a fellow with The Wheeler Centre's Next Chapter program.

Her novel-in-progress was also shortlisted for a 2019 Overland writing residency, and Highly Commended for the 2020 Boundless Indigenous Writer's Mentorship. She co-founded a charity for domestic violence survivors, and currently lives in Brisbane with her husband, sons and daughters, and the love of her life-a fluffy ball of puppy called Morty.