The Fur
The Fur / Nathan Hobby
Fremantle Press 2004
Winner 2003 T.A.G. Hungerford Award
Shortlisted 2004 W.A. Premier’s Award Young Adult Fiction
Availability
Most Australian bookstores will order it in for you. You’ll probably find copies on the shelf at The Lane Bookshop in Claremont, New Edition in Fremantle and the State Library Bookshop in the city. Available online from www.fremantlepress.com.au or from Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Fur-Nathan-Hobby/dp/1920731016.
Synopsis
The Fur is the story of a reclusive, passionate teenager’s quest to live a meaningful life. The backdrop is a Western Australia in an alternate reality, quarantined from the rest of the world because of the fungus which has infested the state and occupied by UN and Commonwealth troops. Michael faces the choice of quietism, revolution or escape. Hungry for love, Michael’s dilemma is painfully compounded by his fundamentalist family, his mother’s death and his obsession with beautiful and inaccessible girls.
Praise for The Fur
‘The Fur is The Catcher in the Rye for the Third Millennium, a darkly passionate attempt to articulate the struggle between the existential and political for all those ‘who wish to be great.’
- Janet Blagg, editor
Nathan Hobby’s imagination is hungry and intense. He needs a whole world to feed it and then some.’
- Michael McGirr, Sydney Morning Herald
‘Polish passion and a brilliant handling of theme mark Nathan Hobby’s debut novel…‘Deals brilliantly with the sort of troubles that beset bright teenagers. But while it has the same seriousness and insight as Salinger’s novel, it has more breadth… At the very least it should be in every Australian high school library and recommended reading list.’
- Stephen Dedman, The West Australian
To arrange a talk or workshop at your school, shop, church or community group, please contact the author at nathanhobby[at]gmail.com.

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This blog is about the literary life of a writer in Perth. Expect reflections on reading and writing and feature posts on whatever's caught my attention, from historical curiousities to autobiographical reflections. I have a separate blog for theology -
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