May you dream of the devil and wake in fright. An old curse

John Grant knows he’s in hell. What he doesn’t know is how to escape.

‘In the town of Bundanyabba, a young schoolmaster discovers gambling, ruins himself financially, then plunges headlong toward his own destruction in many other ways, alcoholic, sexual and spiritual—and yet, somehow throughout this five-day nightmare there persists a note of hope in man’s incredible resilience. Cook writes astonishingly well, with a fierce economy and a frightening power of visualization.’ New York Times

Forty years since it first appeared this novel remains fresh, compelling and utterly gripping.

With an introduction by Peter Temple, and an afterword by acclaimed film critic David Stratton, this edition celebrates the re-release of the film adaptation. A cinematic classic, long thought to have been lost forever, the last surviving print has been found, digitally restored, and will return to the big screen this year. Find out more...

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Raffaele Caputo interviews Ted Kotcheff for Senses of Cinema.

Praise for Wake In Fright:

‘A true dark classic of Australian literature.’

— J. M. Coetzee

‘Wake in Fright deserves its status as a modern classic. Cook’s prose is masterful and the story is gripping from the first page to the last.’

— M. J. Hyland

‘A classic novel which became a classic film. The Outback without the sentimental bulldust. Australia without the sugar coating.’

— Robert Drewe

‘Wake in Fright is a classic of the ugly side of Menzies’ Australia, its brutality, its drunkenness, its anxiety to crush all sensibility. All of this is harrowingly reacorded —the destruction of a young soul fresh to Australia—in Kenneth Cook’s remarkable novel.’

— Thomas Keneally