Cirrus@Austlit

'In 1960s Australia, an unnamed child is born. Her family is not of that continent, but has travelled from the other side of the world for work, and to escape conflict in Ireland. While the child’s father immerses himself in science, her mother discovers how food and the yearning for family can unite people who find themselves far from home. Pathways follows women and men from different generations and cultures, and explores the things that matter to us all: a safe haven, friends and family around us, and what makes a home.'

Source: The People's Library.

'What happens when you leave city life and move to five acres on a hunch, with a husband who’s an aspiring alpaca-whisperer, and a feral cockerel for company? Can you eat the cockerel for dinner? Or has it got rigor mortis?

'Those of us who live in this heart-shaped island of Tasmania often experience a restive contentment. We sense an internal tide, sometimes tugging at us to leave in search of more, sometimes flooding us with an ache to return. This dynamic tension can be a powerful generator of creativity.

'Like the peasant at the edge of the court, we recognise the fragility, folly even, of those closest to the throne. We see clearly that even at the glittering, crowded centre nothing will suffice.

 'So we return to our fringe, wiser perhaps. But there is a melancholy here, a sense that – like the Irish – our island’s troubles will continually resurface.

'You will find in this anthology an exploration of these elemental themes. There is promise, and love, and a simplified life, certainly. But alongside these there are sometimes secrets, loss, enmities and violence. Thankfully there is humour too.'

Source: Editor's note.