Cirrus@Austlit

'In August of last year, an email popped up in my inbox from Andrew McGahan. I hadn’t seen Andrew in a while so it took me by surprise. Then I read the subject line – ‘The Big C’. A few days later I flew to Melbourne and drove a hire car to his house in Sunshine. I parked up the street, walked down to his house on the corner, and Andrew met me at the door. I was shocked at how thin he was. I knew he had been leading a healthier lifestyle, but the illness was also clearly starting to take hold. In the kitchen, he made me a cup of tea and I asked him whether he was sure of his diagnosis. Perhaps the doctors had made a mistake; I was only half-joking.'  (Introduction)