Cover art for The Bearcat
Published
Picador, April 2025
ISBN
9781761266386
Format
Softcover, 320 pages
Dimensions
23.3cm × 15.4cm

The Bearcat

Not yet released
Due April 29, 2025.
Fast $7.95 flat-rate shipping!
Only pay $7.95 per order within Australia, including end-to-end parcel tracking.
100% encrypted and secure
We adhere to industry best practice and never store credit card details.
Talk to real people
Contact us seven days a week – our staff are here to help.

An intimate psychological portrait inspired by the true story of an ordinary girl who grows into a notorious cult leader - and the family that shaped her.

bearcat: a large, tree-dwelling mammal; 1920s slang for a fiery girl or woman.

  1. Family is everything to Anne. Our Messiah. And Anne demands everything from The Family; their loyalty, their money, even their children. In return, she promises existential comfort to the lost and weary women. Because Anne knows how hard it is to build a family - and how devastatingly easy it is to lose one.

  2. A child is born on a sticky summer evening. Our Anne. Her mother, Florence, is isolated and overwhelmed, trapped at home with an indifferent husband and a newborn whose demands are relentless. A childless neighbour's offer of help is a lifeline as Florence struggles to reconcile motherhood and her shifting sense of self.

For both Anne and Florence, the past is for escaping, and love is impossible to trust. All they can hope for is that their family will save them.

The Bearcat is a dark and nuanced exploration of longing, power and the inviolable grip of history.

Related books