Welcome book-clubbers to the last review of 2025! And what better way to wrap up this trying year (an under-exaggeration) than with a sensational novel that knows all about harnessing strength and resistance under extreme circumstances.

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I am talking about my favourite novel of all time, the one, the only The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood (internal applause).

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Reading this book at the spry age of 20-(murmur murmur) when it was published 10 years ago was like strapping into my first rollercoaster ride. Gripping, exhilarating, terrifying and I was vacant-eyed and jelly-legged for an hour afterwards.

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The story of ten women, each of whom have committed the unthinkable crime of publicly demanding men be held accountable for their actions, are secretly drugged and transported to an inescapable prison in the unforgiving Australian desert. Chained, abused, barely fed and treated little better than cattle, they’re forced into the same demanding labor each day under the authority of two losers with a baton. You know the kind, insecure online trolls who gulp down misogynistic propaganda like Red Bull.

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Told from the perspectives of Verla and Yolanda, two people who couldn’t have been more different in their old lives, they form an unspeakable bond as each woman comes to understand the other, who they were behind the heinous acts and media’s narrative, and align themselves in solidarity.

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As months pass, it begins to dawn on their in-house oppressors that they are not as in control as they think and their established regime crumbles as panic and chaos descend. With this new transfer of power, both Verla and Yolanda find an inner strength in embracing their primal instincts and forming a connection with the land to ensure the group’s survival.

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However, the threat of violence is never far away and Verla, who has stopped relying on fantasies of escape, takes matters into her own hands by more sinister means.

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Written with rawness and beauty, this book combines rural gothic with feminist rage in the best way possible. The vividness of the landscape, suffocating atmosphere of the prison and tension of a long-held fury finally breaking loose kept me compelled even with the knowledge what events would unfurl.

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Charlotte Wood is, without a doubt, one of the best writers I have the privilege of reading and her worldwide acclaim is proof of that.

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5 out of 5 bebe bunnies.

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SIMILAR TITLES

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The Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024. A deeply moving novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be ‘good’, from the award-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.

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The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

Four older women have a lifelong friendship of the best kind: loving, practical, frank and steadfast. But when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three. Can they survive together without her?

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The Children by Charlotte Wood

From one of Australia's finest writers, a novel that exposes the tenacious grip of childhood, the way siblings seem to grow apart but never do, and the price paid for bearing witness to the suffering of others.

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Ash by Louise Wallace

A shimmering novel about motherhood, love and the power of feminine rage. Thea lives under a mountain – one that's ready to blow.