Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award

The Submerged Cathedral is a superb, enthralling novel of love, tragedy and atonement from the acclaimed author of The Children.

‘Set me as a seal on your heart, for love is stronger than death.’

Spanning many years, travelling across Australia’s vast continent and through some of Europe’s great cities, The Submerged Cathedral is a beguiling, heartbreaking story of paradise and the fall, of sacrifice and atonement, and of sisterly love and rivalry. Most of all, however, it is about an enduring and sacred love- a love stronger than death- and the journeys undertaken in its name. Written in spare, haunting prose, this novel is a work of the highest literary merit, as well as a timeless love story that will enthrall readers.

The release of Charlotte Wood’s acclaimed first novel, Pieces of a Girl, marked her as a young writer of great promise; The Submerged Cathedral thrillingly confirms that promise with astonishing assurance and lyricism.