'Five stories to take you away from the anonymity of big cities and into the Mallee. Into communities where everyone knows everyone else’s business or, if they don’t know it, they invent it. Some of these tales begin in different times and faraway places such as Gallipoli or the wartime Blitz of London. They all have their conclusions in the goldfish bowls of small Australian country towns. There is humour here, and obsession, and bigotry. There is murder, mystery and a mother’s love. Five stories from an author who knows the mallee backblocks, who knows the close-knit communities and how lives may be played out within them.' (Publication summary)
