The Rewilding by Donna M Cameron

Title: The Rewilding

Author: Donna M Cameron

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Transit Lounge

Published: 1^st March 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Price: $32.99

Synopsis: An exhilarating and unforgettable love song for our world.
Heartbroken and in fear for his life, corporate whistle blower, 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.

Sales points:

• A rollercoaster of a novel with great characters and a gripping plot.
• Both a thriller and an odd couple love story, it explores the contested terrain of climate activism with nuance, humour, and hope.
• Marketing and publicity campaign including launches and events in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne.

~*~

Jagger Eckerman has been living the high life until recently, when he became a corporate whistle-blower, and now his life has fallen apart. People he thought he could trust – his dad and his friend, have taken advantage of him. Now he is on the run, and leaves Sydney, heading into the bush far from the city. In the bush near the waterways where Jagger used to spend his summers, and he takes shelter in a remote cave, thinking he is alone. Then he meets Nia Moretti, an Earth Rebellion radical, living off the grid amidst a post-COVID world of fires and storms, and devastating cyclones in Queensland. As Jagger and Nia are thrust together and are forced to run from the man pursuing Jagger, Nia and Jagger are pulled into a cat-and-mouse game as they hide from the man, and escape over borders as they watch the devastation of climate change across Queensland after a cyclone.

The man following them wants Jagger dead – and Nia is Jagger’s only hope to survive, so he goes along with her plan to send a message to the government and the world about the impact of climate change, and what it is doing. As Nia and Jagger are pursued across borders, they form a bit of an odd-ball friendship and alliance, their understanding growing as they talk to each other and reveal secrets, their lives unfolding amidst the carnage they witness. And yet, they each harbour secrets and pasts that they are too hurt to reveal to each other. The things that they recall, think of, and say highlight the complexity of their characters, and their personal histories and trauma contribute to the execution of the novel.

The Rewilding is a love story to the climate and nature above all, as well as a testimony to humanity’s ability to work together with those we think are against us, and to find solutions where it might feel like there aren’t any, and shows that the people we don’t want to trust can end up being our biggest allies in more ways than someone like Jagger initially thought. The novel also explored issues of trust and dealing with the past, being taken advantage of and various emotions – things that Jagger buried and kept hidden because he didn’t know whom he could trust. I felt that this helped his character grow and went towards showing the depth and layers of the story – that not everyone is who they look like, or the person that other people assume they are – there’s more to many people like Jagger and Nia that first appearances don’t show. Both assume the worst of each other during that first meeting in the cave, and it takes their journey up and down the coast to let their secrets – at least the ones they want to share – to come out as they race to keep ahead of the man stalking Jagger.

It is equal parts thrilling and insightful, provoking thought in reader about climate change and the different ways people try to tackle it, bring attention to it, and work to help the community amidst what Nia sees as words and no action from the very people who can do the most to help the situation instead of letting it all fall to everyone else. In reading the book, it is hard not to feel let down and despondent at times, as Nia sounds like she’s given up or only presents negative sides to the issue of climate change. In doing so, she’s reflecting the very real concerns we have about the planet and the environment. Yet this isn’t a dystopian novel – it’s set very much around now, in a relatively post-COVID-19 world in terms of Jagger and Nia’s story. Where Nia comes across as the rebellious negative type at times, Jagger is her foil. He represents the hope we have of saving the climate and the future before the world becomes a post-apocalyptic dystopia. It is the combination of their words, beliefs, and actions that serves to show people something can be done, and relieves us with an ending that suggests progress.

In many ways, it is a challenging novel, yet also quite a breezy read. It seems to fly by once you get in, because as a reader, I wanted to know what happened and if they got away from the people pursuing Jagger – the lulls when they thought they had lost them were refreshing, but at the same time, had me on edge, because I knew something had to eventually happen to bring things to an end. Something had to come and try to destroy things. All these conflicts – personal, professional, environmental – come together in this novel to create an evocative story that is thought provoking but also, at its heart, about love and friendship and the lengths we go to for the people and things that we care about. Filled with hope and humour, it tackles the climate crisis with nuance and shows that when we listen to what each other has to say, we can come up with the solutions we need. A great novel from a local author.