The Dry

• Genre: Fiction; crime mystery/suspense
• Originally Published: 2016
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 42 chapters; approx. 336 pages; approx. 10 hours on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Hidden secrets and past lies begin to surface when federal agent Aaron Falk returns after decades away to his hometown in a secluded Australian farming community, where he has been called to investigate his former best friend’s death.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Murder; death (including of children); suicide; child abuse, including depictions of physical abuse; dementia

Jane Harper, Author

• Bio: Born in 1980 in Manchester, United Kingdom; resettled as a child in Australia and earned Australian citizenship; attended the University of Kent for English and History; pursued journalism and business reporting before turning to fiction writing in 2014; now a bestselling writer of crime fiction and mysteries
• Other Works: Force of Nature (2018); The Lost Man (2019); The Survivors (2021)
• Awards: UK Crime Writers Gold Dagger Award for Crime Novel of the Year (2017); Australian Book Industry Awards for Book of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year (2017); The British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year (2018)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Physical and Mental Effects of Drought
• Choices and Consequences
• Secrets, Lies, and Mistrust in an Intimate Community