The Unknown Terrorist

The narrator is the Doll, a 26-year-old pole dancer working in Sydney. She is prejudiced, preoccupied with money, and deeply attached to her convictions, and those very convictions bring about the collapse of her world. Around her, the constant warnings about threat levels, the steady stream of news bulletins and a pervasive dread of the unknown keep pressing ordinary people closer to their limits. Richard Flanagan builds the story as a parable, using the Doll's fate to hold up a distorted mirror to contemporary society. The author, a Tasmanian-born Australian novelist, is known for his storytelling and his sharp observations of social life, and he has won several awards for his work.