If … you enjoyed Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, you are going to want to read this book.

Bookseller + Publisher

Melbourne, 1959. An eleven-year old boy watches as a murder is committed in a strange house. Just one year before, he had looked on helplessly as his identical twin, Tom, suffered a violent death. God, who he no longer counts as a friend, has a pretty sick sense of humour.

Having been seen by the murderer, he is now a kid on the run, and takes refuge in the dark drains and dangerous drains tunnels beneath the city, recreating himself as a series of superheroes and creating a remarkable map to help him avoid the bad bastard he has locked eyes with. His only protectors are his very shady grandfather, a professional standover man, and an incongruous neighbourhood couple who intervene in a very unexpected way.

A captivating novel bristling with outrageous wit about a tragic figure in a rotten place who refuses to give in, and the crowd of shifty, dodgy and downright malicious bastards he has to match wits with on his extraordinary journey. The Cartographer is a fresh, poignant and deeply touching novel that you will never forget.