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.
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.
Starring theatrical powerhouse Kate Smith, Highway of Lost Hearts is a truly regional story, with original live music composed and performed by alt-country duo and Central West icons, Smith & Jones.