'A novel about life, death, sex and strudel. Benjamin Grey comes out of a failed marriage vowing that life will never surprise him again. So in keeping with this vow of caution he chooses an occupation which is safe and predictable. He becomes a paramedic. On a routine day, Ben and his partner are called to a suburban house where an infant is in cardiac arrest after falling into the family pool. Their attempts to revive the child fail. Shattered and exhausted, Ben escapes to the Blue Mountains for a weekend away with close friends to rest and recuperate. At dinner with his friends on Saturday night, he meets Kay, who will come to need more from Ben in the future than he or she could ever imagine. On Sunday afternoon, before leaving to go back to the city, Ben notices an ad for a house for sale in a real estate agent's window. Strangely drawn to it, he decides to go have a look, encountering the owner, old Mrs Coombs, and her house - a very special house, as it turns out, and - just like that - Ben Gray becomes the owner of a house in the mountains. Ben has a gift that Mrs Coombs recognizes. And his impulsive decision to buy her house and seek a measure of peace and sanctity in the mountains becomes for him - and the array of misfits he will encounter along the way - a journey of love, heartache and a rediscovery of the power and beauty of the human spirit. Not to mention: A street full of lesbians. A toothless carpenter. Brian the real estate agent who likes it rough. A Canadian Indian called 'Fire Catcher' who has visions. Mrs Coombs who knows a kindred spirit when she sees one. Sex. Death. Drug abuse. And the healing power of strudel.' (Publication summary)
