Catherine is a traveller who has never been able to settle anywhere for long. Geography tracks Catherine’s path through the dangerous terrain of obsessive love as she searches though continents, time zones and the landscape of her own soul to find a place of spiritual peace. Emotionally adrift, she clings to stray facts, the detritus of popular culture and world events, trying to stay afloat. On the day she watches her first ‘Seinfeld’ episode she meets Michael, a much older academic. The affair lasts till the final disappointing episode is aired, years later. Their brief but passionate sexual encounters are played out against a backdrop of bushfires, blizzards, floods and hailstorms and their intensity is mirrored by these natural disasters. Like most young travellers this first novel begins as a wanderer, searching for its purpose and refusing to settle anywhere for very long. Despite this initial aimlessness the pace of the narrative quickly increases. Geography is a novel for travellers and for soul searchers. It is a simple tale but one that will ring true for anyone who has been swept away by the force of their own emotions and particularly for those readers who are still struggling to regain their footing.

Krissy Kneen is a writer and bookseller at Avid Reader, Brisbane

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