by Donna M Cameron
Publisher: Transit Lounge, 2024
Review
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The first time I read this novel, I was caught up in the action, focussed on turning the pages to find out what might happen next. The second time I read this novel, I focussed on the journey.
Jagger (yes, named after Mick) Eckerman is on the run. His life is a mess. Poor Jagger. He claims to have been taken advantage of, but he knows that he is deeply involved in his father’s corrupt development business: he’s signed too many papers to claim ignorance. He becomes a whistleblower. His father’s men will be after him for revenge, the police are after him for fraud, and his girlfriend Lola is manipulating him. Time for Jagger to split.
So, after selling his Porsche, stealing his mate’s bicycle, and camping gear, he heads off to take refuge in a coastal cave. The problem is that the cave is already occupied. And the dreadlocked female occupant is not interested in sharing the space with ‘a Capitalist suit’. Yes, Jagger and the woman he nicknames ‘the Feral’ are not off to an auspicious start. Lucky Jagger has some money.
Having caught my attention, Ms Cameron holds it to the end. ‘The Feral’, whose name is Nia Moretti, has her own mission. Jagger misjudges her at first but learns there’s more to Nia than he thought. When those thugs looking for Jagger get close, Nia and Jagger join forces, heading to Queensland in Nia’s modified (to run on vegetable oil) Land Rover. Nia and Jagger have different ideas about what constitutes danger: while Jagger fears for his life, Nia fears for the planet.
On my second read, I paid more attention to Ms Cameron’s beautiful descriptions of nature, as well as to the issues of climate change, illegal immigrants, the impact of mining, and the radical protests by those seeking to protect the planet which Jagger encounters as he flees from those hunting him.
I liked everything about this book: from the beautiful cover to the message of hope by the end, from the combination of unlikely allies with at times hilarious (and hair-raising) adventures, delivered with dark humour and the hint of change for the future. And yes, this is a novel worth rereading. It is entertaining, thought-provoking, and topical.
Publisher’s blurb
An exhilarating and unforgettable love song for our world.
Heartbroken and in fear for his life, corporate whistleblower, Jagger Eckerman, escapes to hide out in a remote cave, but kick-arse radical, Nia Moretti, is furious a ‘capitalist suit’ has taken over her cave. It is hatred at first sight.
Yet Nia is hiding for reasons of her own, ones that drag Jagger closer to death as they are forced on the run together and he is unwittingly pulled deeper into Nia’s reckless mission to help save the planet. But who can save Jagger from the relentless pursuit of the man who wants him dead?
Both an electrifying cat-and-mouse chase and an odd couple love story, The Rewilding captures the essence of what it means to be alive today in this cusp of change pulsing with possibilities. It is a passionate intimation of hope.