Bold, exhilarating, and wholly original, The Animals in That Country asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

Three backpackers board a train, ignoring the danger signs - and find themselves Beyond the killing fields and the temples of Angkor is Cambodia: a country with a genocidal past and a wide, open smile. Setting off on their trail, with Sue the dingo riding shotgun, they find themselves in a stark, strange world in which the animal apocalypse has only further isolated people from other species. In Holiday in Cambodia Laura Jean McKay explores the electric zone where local and foreign lives meet. Laura Jean McKay’s characters, described with empathy and affection, sashay through a series of crisp but well-rounded vignettes. When he takes off with Kimberly, heading south, Jean feels the pull to follow her kin. Holiday in Cambodia is an invigorating, nuanced portrayal of life in the kingdom today. As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean's infected son, Lee. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.Īs disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realizes this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals-first mammals, then birds and insects, too. Laura Jean McKays characters, described with empathy and affection. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. Holiday in Cambodia is an invigorating, nuanced portrayal of life in the kingdom today.

She's never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks.

Holiday in cambodia laura jean mckay