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y separately published work icon Due Preparations for the Plague single work   novel   thriller  
Issue Details: First known date: 2003... 2003 Due Preparations for the Plague
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Lowell tries not to think about the past, about the hijacking that killed his mother. Samantha, on the other hand, cannot let go. As a child she survived the hijacking of Air France 64, and as an adult she obsessively digs for answers, seeking a man called Salamander whom she believes holds key information.

'It is the death of Lowell's father, and his legacy of a blue sports bag crammed with documents and videotapes, that finally brings Lowell and Samantha together and unravels the interconnections between victims and perpetrators, saved and damned.

'But in this murky world of endless aliases and surveillance, who can be trusted? When does the quest for truth become a dangerous obsession? And what difference can the truth make?

'Janette Turner Hospital has crafted a taut and confronting novel that propels us into the chaos of terror and the cruelty - and unexpected hope - of survival. ' (Publication summary)

Exhibitions

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Notes

  • Also available as a sound recording.

  • Epigraph:

    I have often asked myself what I mean by preparations for the plague...and I think that preparations for the plague are preparations for death. But what is it to make preparations for death? or what preparations are proper to be make for death?

    –Daniel Defoe, Due Preparations for the Plague (1722)

    To state quite simply what we learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.

    –Albert Camus, The Plague.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2003 .
      image of person or book cover 8915071674118645649.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 390p.
      ISBN: 0732277302 (pbk.), 0732277299
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       W. W. Norton ,       2003 .
      image of person or book cover 3197805962952815040.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 401p.
      ISBN: 2002156598, 039305764X (hbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Harper Perennial ,       2004 .
      image of person or book cover 4777059398852431015.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 399, 16pp.
      Note/s:
      • Includes P.S. ideas, interviews and features.
      ISBN: 000714928X
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Fourth Estate ,       2004 .
      image of person or book cover 2943359961563910072.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 390p.
      ISBN: 0007149271
    • Sydney South, South Sydney area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2014 .
      image of person or book cover 7069402042792771908.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 448p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 1st January 2014
      ISBN: 9780732298456, 0732298458
      Series: y separately published work icon Modern Australian Classics A & R Modern Australian Classics Sydney South : HarperCollins Australia , 2014- 7434666 2014 series - publisher
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Fourth Estate ,       2016 .
      image of person or book cover 2745319306013451385.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      ISBN: 9780007485338 (ebk), 0007485336 (ebk)
Alternative title: Dernieres recommandations avant la peste
Language: French
    • Paris,
      c
      France,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Payot et Rivages ,       2003 .
      image of person or book cover 4337277209215645193.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 454p.
      ISBN: 2743612983
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Works about this Work

Book Review – Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital Joanne Peulen , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Booklover Book Reviews 2012;
— Review of Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Due Preparations for Paradise : or, The Plague Now According to Hany Abu-Assad and Janette Turner Hospital Helga Ramsey-Kurz , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Engaging with Literature of Commitment : The Worldly Scholar (Volume 2) 2012; (p. 217-230)
Reconfiguring 'Asian Australian' Writing : Australia, India and Inez Baranay Paul Sharrad , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 70 no. 3 2010; (p. 11-29) Mapping South Asian Diasporas 2018; (p. 250-267)
An Interview with Janette Turner Hospital Pradeep Trikha (interviewer), 2010 single work interview
— Appears in: Lemuria , vol. 3 no. 2010; (p. 50-64)
Realigning the Spiritual Compass : Representations of Terrorism in Some Recent Australian Fiction Xavier Pons , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 1 no. 2009; (p. 23-24) 'This article examines how terrorism is represented in three Australian novels, Janette Turner Hospital's Due Preparations for the Plague (2003) and Orpheus Lost (2007), and Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist (2006). It argues that, despite their ostensible topic, the novels tend to ignore or distort the reality of terrorism and its causes. Flanagan is more interested in the way some individuals and groups exploit the fear of terrorism to achieve their own ends, while Turner Hospital creates a paranoid world which does not allow any real understanding of what terrorism is about. The social preoccupations in the three novels, insightful as they are, remain largely disconnected from terrorism.' Source: Xavier Pons.
The Real Terror Is Just Beginning Liam Davison , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 May 2003; (p. 15)
— Review of Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Disaster Just Around the Corner Sandra McLean , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 24 May 2003; (p. 6)
— Review of Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Home Grown Heroes Peter Pierce , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 27 May vol. 121 no. 6374 2003; (p. 44)
— Review of Shanghai Dancing Brian Castro , 2003 single work novel ; The Pirate Queen Alan Gold , 2003 single work novel ; Fantastic Street David Kelly , 2003 single work novel ; The Snow Queen : A Novel Mardi McConnochie , 2003 single work novel ; Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Echoes of the Darkness of September 11 Lorien Kaye , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 31 May 2003; (p. 3)
— Review of Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Loading the Dice Brenda Niall , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 252 2003; (p. 38)
— Review of Due Preparations for the Plague Janette Turner Hospital , 2003 single work novel
Into the Garden of Evil Sally Blakeney , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 26-27 April 2003; (p. 6-7)
Return of the Nomad Sharon Verghis , 2003 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 May 2003; (p. 6)
Good, Evil and the Survival Instinct Jennifer Moran , 2003 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 31 May 2003; (p. 3a)
A Plague on All Houses Chris Brice , 2003 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 31 May 2003; (p. 12-13)
The Thrills in Turner Hospital Jane Sullivan , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 31 May 2003; (p. 3)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (39)

Awards

VIEW ALL AWARDS (7)
Last amended 29 Oct 2024 07:41:36
Subjects:
Settings:
  • c
    United States of America (USA),
    c
    Americas,
  • c
    France,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • 2000-2001
  • 1987
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