The Natural Way of Things cover art

The Natural Way of Things

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Natural Way of Things

By: Charlotte Wood
Narrated by: Ailsa Piper
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in an abandoned property in the middle of a desert. The Natural Way of Things is a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted. But most of all, it is the story of two friends, their sisterly love and courage.

©2015 Charlotte Wood (P)2016 W.F. Howes Ltd Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Women's Fiction

Critic Reviews

"One hell of a novel by one of our most original and provocative writers." ( The Weekend Australian)
All stars
Most relevant
makes you question your morals, your survival techniques, would people miss you and really is this possible. whole way through I was rechallenged with thoughts every chapter.

not what you expect

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
struggled to start. took a number of attempts. i felt frustrated not to find out why they were taken and treated so badly??? i don't get it???

why

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What have you done Charlotte Wood? You have made Golding’s Lord of the Flies for this century and you have made it so very thrilling and real.

Verla wakes from a drugged sleep. She doesn’t know where she is, nor why she’s there. Another woman is thrust into the room - Yolanda. Verla and Yolanda are two of ten women who find themselves in the middle of the desert. Their heads are soon shaved and they are clothed in coarse, modest but completely impractical skirts, shirts and bonnets that act as blinders.

The dread begins from the first scenes and Wood never lets up. The girls are always on guard, and so are we.

The women are jailed in a compound in outback Australia, surrounded by an electric fence powerful enough to kill. Their jailers are a brutal, coarse idiot, and a stoner hippie. They are joined by Nancy the “nurse” who has no medical qualifications nor even a basic knowledge of first aid.

One evening the electricity at the compound goes off. The food begins to run out. Things were already bad and they are about to get worse.

There is nothing about this book that is predictable. Wood keeps us guessing and second guessing at every turn. It is exquisite, the sort of book where you need to remind yourself to breathe. Do not be fooled by the beautiful cover of the book. Wood’s story is ugly, ugly, ugly. It is the very worst of ourselves.

The book won the 2016 Stella Award (Australia’s top award for Women’s Literature) and is shortlisted for Australia’s most prestigious award, the Miles Franklin Award.

Alisa Piper gives the characters a powerful Aussie twang, perfectly suited to the women (and men) Wood has written. Piper draws you in quickly and performs the voices of each character superbly.

Remember to breathe - this book is exquisite!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I find it very difficult to finish any books at all, thus must congratulate this audio book for getting me through. The narration was done excellently and the story was captivating.

I actually finished it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This will go down in history as one of Australia's greatest literary pieces.

very moving and provocative

Supreme piece of storytelling! Powerful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.