The devastating and gritty fourth novel from Miles Franklin shortlisted author, Michael Mohammed Ahmad.

Some scars can never be seen, but will always be felt . . . long after the damage is done.

Hamoodi may only be ten years old, but he already knows that to speak out is dangerous. Lessons from the mother-land have taught him that standing out can see you lose everything. Or disappear. In a new place, he has learned to be quiet, contained. He carries the wisdom and knowledge of his mother and father. They have told him to trust no one – except family.

Alooshi understands first-hand the hurt words can bring. As a teenager, he’s learned that knowing how to wound someone gives him power. But words can only give him so much. And when his younger cousin Hamoodi is bullied at school, Alooshi sees a way to get something else he wants.

Over one day and one night, Hamoodi will come to understand how vulnerable he is. He will discover that family is complicated and trust is a cruel weapon. For him, there will always be a before and an after. He will forever struggle to un-know. But maybe, in the knowing, he will find a way to take back his power. Maybe . . .

With a devastating poignancy and gritty tenderness, award-winning author Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s new novel, Bugger, reveals an uncompromising representation of abuse and explores the impact one day can have on a lifetime.

Author Biography

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and editor of the critically acclaimed anthology After Australia (Affirm Press, 2020). Mohammed’s debut novel, The Tribe (Giramondo, 2014), won the 2015 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists Award. His second novel, The Lebs (Hachette, 2018), won the 2019 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. His third novel, The Other Half of You (Hachette, 2021), won the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Voss Literary Prize. Mohammed received his Doctorate of Creative Arts from Western Sydney University in 2017.

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