A woman. A dog. A campervan. And 4,500km of wide open road.

Mot wakes up one morning to find that her heart is missing from her chest. She can breathe; she has a pulse — but she feels… nothing.

So, she decides to go and look for it. With her dog enlisted as co-pilot, Mot heads down the Highway of Lost Hearts: into the deepest core of the Australian outback — navigating red dirt landscapes, fire and flood, brittle dryness, vast salt lakes, age-old mountains and murky waters filled with lost souls.

An allegory for a country that’s lost its heart, Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler is half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart. It leaves you pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to in order to find it again?