AUTHOR’S NOTE
This novel is not a history, nor should it be read as one. It was suggested to me by certain characters and events in the past, but it does not end with them.
Only the barest details of Mathinna’s life are known, and the fate of Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition still remains a subject of speculation, as does the precise nature of Charles Dickens’ relationship with Ellen Ternan. Lady Jane Franklin did enlist Dickens to rescue the reputation of Sir John’s expedition from the charge of cannibalism levelled—accurately, it would later prove—by Dr Rae, and Dickens did write a strong riposte that today could be characterised as racist. He did become obsessed with the story of lost Arctic explorers, The Frozen Deep was staged, and as an actor Dickens was a sensation. Ellen Ternan did appear on stage with him. Dickens does seem to have fallen in love with her, and to have left his wife because of that love, and he and Ellen Ternan did pursue a secret life together until his death. Exactly what together means remains debated.
Whether Ellen Ternan had a child to Dickens, as Dickens’ daughter Katy believed, or what Sir John’s feelings were towards Mathinna—if he had any at all—appear to be knowledge now irrecoverable. I have seen no evidence that Mathinna was beaten by the Catechist at Wybalenna, but it is known that other Aboriginal girls were, and one, Fanny Cochrane Smith, did attempt to burn down the Catechist’s house. Mathinna was found drowned in a puddle. There is no record of why or how she drowned.
Although the catastrophe of colonisation led many at the time, both black and white, to believe the Tasmanian Aborigines would die out—a terrible anguish which I have tried to mirror in my novel—they did not. Nor were they absent from the subsequent unfolding of Tasmanian history. Today, around 16,000 Tasmanians identify as Aborigines.
The stories of Mathinna and Dickens, with their odd but undeniable connection, suggested to me a meditation on desire—the cost of its denial, the centrality and force of its power in human affairs. That, and not history, is the true subject of Wanting.
In writing this novel, I have on occasion made free use of sentences and phrases from Dickens’ own work. Those who wish to know more about the historical truth of the characters mentioned can find biographical notes, along with a list of the sources I consulted, at www.richardflanaganwanting.com.au.
Finally, my thanks to Nikki Christer, Julian Welch, Deborah Rogers, Joyce Purtscher and Greg Lehman.
International acclaim for WANTING
“In confident, expert hands, fiction can liberate the past…Richard Flanagan is an exemplary case in point. [A] dense and fascinating novel.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Flanagan’s prose grasps the jugular of history…A startling meditation on the tragic cost of emotional repression and the physical violence and psychic disfigurement to which the constraint of self-expression give rise.”—The Times (London)
“A compelling novel about love and loss.”—ELLE Canada
“A beautifully constructed fugue on desire and its denial, on the protean forms assumed by passionate natures wrestling with 19th century dictates of reason and duty.”—The Times Literary Supplement
“As usual, Flanagan is brilliant at re-creating this ‘weird land predating time, with its vulgar rainbow colours, its vile, huge forests and bizarre animals that seemed to have been lost since Adam’s exile.’”—The Washington Post
“The novel is stylishly, even beautifully written, and one stops to savour many a well-turned phrase.”—Edmonton Journal
“This is the best novel I have read this year or expect to read for several more…Flanagan’s storytelling puts the heart back into history. It is infused with a massive strength of feeling, with anger and compassion.”—Sydney Morning Herald
“In Wanting, Richard Flanagan has written an exquisite, profoundly moving, intricately structured meditation about the desire for human connection in its many forms.”—Los Angeles Times
“A novel of singular beauty. Flanagan’s virtuoso handling of historical fact and storytelling, combined with his understanding of human nature, confirms that in works such as this, fiction achieves high art.”—The Irish Times
“Flanagan sets his novel in the wilds of nineteenth-century Tasmania and evokes its inhabitants with exquisite precision…Flanagan forges…an entirely unified meditation on desire, ‘the cost of its denial, the centrality and force of its power in human affairs.’”—The New Yorker
“Flanagan is a beautiful writer and Wanting is a beautiful and considered addition to his oeuvre.”—The Age (Australia)
“Passionate and eloquent.”—The Sunday Times (London)
“Complex and riveting fiction…An ingenious, thoughtful and potent demonstration of this assured author’s imaginative versatility.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Astounding…A stunning book…Wanting deserves the highest accolades.”—Sunday Tasmanian
“Flanagan’s prose is beautifully crafted, at once elegant and astonishing…Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (a Best Book of 2009)
“Flanagan’s control of his material is awe-inspiring, and he writes beautifully to boot.”—Time Out (London)
“The novel boasts many symmetries and ironies, which are the stuff of poetry rather than history.”—The Australian
“[Flanagan’s] depiction of desire’s effects is sublime.”—Publishers Weekly
“Moving seamlessly through time, across two continents and between three storylines, Wanting is a marvel of precision and cohesion.”—The Sun-Herald (Sydney)
“Wanting is a novel you never want to end. As a reader, I can think of no greater accolade.”—The Canberra Times
Also By Richard Flanagan
Death of a River Guide
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
Gould’s Book of Fish
The Unknown Terrorist
Copyright
Wanting
Copyright © 2008 by Richard Flanagan.
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EPub Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-1-443-40057-2
Published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Originally published in Australia in 2008 as a Knopf book, published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd.
First published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in an original trade paperback edition: 2009.
This Harper Perennial trade paperback edition: 2010
Epigraph from Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, published by Vintage.
Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Flanagan, Richard, 1961–
Wanting / Richard Flanagan.
I. Title.
PR9619.3.F53W35 2010 823’.914 C2010-900801-4
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Richard Flanagan, Wanting
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