Missing : He was brilliant and troubled and for thirty-five years he lived alone in the wild . . . then there was silence

WINNER OF THE 2023 NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD'S MICHAEL CROUCH AWARD FOR A DEBUT WORK Hey mate, Pete and Steve have been talking to some people who live around the national park where Mark lives . . . nobody has seen him for months . . . We're about to head into the gorge . . . I'll let you know what we find . . . In 1972 Mark May is eighteen. He is bright, beautiful and has a scholarship to study law. Ten years later he descends alone into remote gorge country in north-western New South Wales. He lives in rough camps and stays for thirty-five years. Then, on a feeling, his brothers go looking for him. Missing is a true story of immense emotional force. It tells of a broken life and a ruptured family but is also a spare and eloquent story of survival that carries a deep humanity. It announces a significant new talent in Australian writing. 'This compelling, moving tale is unlike anything I have ever read. Intimate and vivid, Tom Patterson has found beauty and meaning amid the sorrow.' - Malcolm Knox 'An inside look into an outsider's world, tenderly and beautifully told.' - Greg Bearup 'brims with winning details . . .lean, pacy prose' - Sydney Morning Herald 'This fiction-structured true-life story beautifully captures the love and sorrow of a family divided by well-intentioned aspirations.' - Canberra Times