Wanting

It is 1839, and Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin has just assumed governorship of the remote penal colony of Van Diemen's Land. His wife, Lady Jane, soon becomes enamored of the young Aboriginal girl called Mathinna, who they adopt. Mathinna is one of the few survivors of a war against her people, and now, she is the subject of Lady Jane's experiment to determine whether science, Christianity, and reason can be imposed upon a native. Years later, Sir John Franklin and his expedition to find the Northwest Passage suddenly disappear. Reports of cannibalism filter back, influencing even the likes of Charles Dickens. "Wanting" is a captivating new novel of desire and denial from Richard Flanagan.