num_pages: 382
description: Aljaz Cosini is leading a group of tourists on a raft tour down Tasmania's wild Franklin River when his greatest fear is realized—a tourist falls overboard. An ordinary man with many regrets, Aljaz rises to an uncharacteristic heroism, and offers his own life in trade. Trapped under a rapid and drowning, Aljaz is beset with visions both horrible and fabulous. He sees Couta Ho, the beautiful, spirited woman he loved, and witnesses his uncle Reg having his teeth pulled and sold to pay for a ripple-iron house. He sees cities grow from the wild rain forest and a tree burst into flower in midwinter over his grandfather's forest grave. As the entirety of Tasmanian life—flora and fauna—sings him home, Aljaz arrives at a world where dreaming reasserts its power over thinking, where his family tree branches into stories of all human families, stories that ground him in the land and reveal the soul history of his country.
language: English
title: Death of a River Guide
titlecomplete: Death of a River Guide
genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Tasmania, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literature, Australia, Novels
ratings_count: 2481
places: Tasmania, Australia
awards: awardedAt: 788947200000
name: Miles Franklin Literary Award
publisher: Atlantic Books