MUTANT MESSAGE DOWN UNDER

Morgan's originally self-published fictional account of her trek with Aborigines in Australia's outback has already sold over 370,000 copies. But that hasn't stopped HarperCollins from picking it up and printing more. During her travels with the Aborigines, Morgan learns their customs, and she believes that she has come to a deep understanding and appreciation of their culture. The conflation of fact with fiction, and the assumption that the distinction doesn't matter, is bothersome. In any case, it's the old story: An earnest person strides out into the world and returns—a New Age prophet glowing with the wisdom of indigenous cultures—to tell us that we are living life out of balance. (First printing of 250,000; Literary Guild selection; author tour)