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Published 3 September 2024
ISBN 9781923058040
Format Trade Paperback
Extent 320pp
AU Price $34.99
NZ Price $40.00

The Degenerates



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An electrifying debut from a young Indian-Australian writer, The Degenerates brims with vitality and humour.

Shortlisted, MUD Literary Prize, 2025
Longlisted, Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2025
Longlisted, Voss Literary Prize, 2025
Longlist ed, ALS Gold Medal, 2025

'The Degenerates is vivid, wild and even prophetic. It left me in awe. Raeden Richardson is the real deal.' - Robbie Arnott, author of Limberlost

Following the interwoven lives of four characters across India, Australia and the United States, the novel takes root in Melbourne and brings its streets, shopping centres and laneways to life with astounding originality—the city may never be the same again.

The Degenerates radiates with Titch’s fanaticism and Ginny’s obsessions. Somnath’s devastating history reflects every life divided around the globe. And Maha, the heart of the novel, is an extraordinary creation, an abiding figure of modern salvation. Brimming with vitality, humour, intelligence and brilliant writing, The Degenerates engages with the realities of modern loneliness and every form of departure—from our homes, from our families and even from life itself.

In propulsive prose, The Degenerates summons the power of storytelling, disrupts conventional narratives and pays tribute to those lives often lost in the margins.

PRAISE:

‘Radiates with vitality…one feels as if its pages are somehow emitting the material of real life.’ Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao
A remarkable tale of departure and displacement. It’s authentic, vivid and a stellar first act for the writer.’ Jack Callil, Guardian
‘This is a narrative both pacey and immersed in the specifics of everyday life...settings and scenes develop by accrual of almost hallucinogenic detail….A novel that grants dignity to the lost and troubled, and whose vivid stories are conveyed with humour, insight, and empathy.’ Australian Book Review
‘This novel takes root in Melbourne and brings its streets, shopping centres and laneways to life with astounding originality…[The Degenerates is] brimming with vitality, humour, intelligence and brilliant writing.’ Readings

‘I was rapt as soon as I started reading Raeden Richardson’s The Degenerates. Vivid, vulnerable and voluptuous, The Degenerates is stylish and bold story telling. Profound in its unpredictability and remarkable in scope, you will surely enjoy the ride.’ Mirandi Riwoe, author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain

‘Richardson creates a world much like ours but filled with dark magic and coincidences of the wildest kinds… a brilliant and transporting debut.’ Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field

Published 3 September 2024
ISBN 9781923058040
Format Trade Paperback
Extent 320pp
AU Price $34.99
NZ Price $40.00

About the author

Raeden Richardson

Raeden Richardson grew up in Melbourne and graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His work has been supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, La Napoule Foundation and Yaddo. His writing has appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings and New Australian Fiction.

Praise for The Degenerates

‘Richardson creates a world much like ours but filled with dark magic and coincidences of the wildest kinds... a brilliant and transporting debut.’

Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field

‘A buoyant, macabre, subversive love song to the art of storytelling.’

Kate Christensen, author of Welcome Home, Stranger

‘Radiates with vitality...one feels as if its pages are somehow emitting the material of real life.’

Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao

‘Inventive and daring...There's something ravenous about Raeden Richardson's voice. It consumes everything in its path to forge an entirely fresh language.’

Sanjena Sathian, author of Gold Diggers

‘Richardson writes like a composer scoring a symphony, with such grace, fluidity, and musical control you almost feel you can see the notes rising off the page.’

Kevin Brockmeier, author of Things That Fall from the Sky

To call The Degenerates ambitious would be a gross understatement. Raeden Richardson contends with nothing less than Buddhist samsara and the nature of existence itself, emulating the distinct surrealism of David Lynch. He pulls out all the stops of language and storytelling, achieving a debut that is as much a sage meditation as a novel.

Robin Hemley, author of Oblivion, An After Autobiography