'Corey White forged a life from broken beginnings. His stand-up comedy and his first book draw on a timeline of personal horrors, writes Liam Pieper' (Introduction)
'Poll after poll put paramedics at the top of the list of most trusted professions in Australia, closely followed by firefighters, nurses and doctors. But in saving our lives these first responders are often sacrificing their own. Shift work, long hours, violent assaults, the emotional stress of dealing with death and grief on an almost daily basis take a toll on their physical and mental health.' (Introduction)
In Islamic legend, and in the Victorian language of flowers, the yellow rose signifies infidelity in love. ‘‘Late one summer evening, outside in the heavy scent of the yellow roses he’d planted, he tells me that he wants to keep moving. And so, I flew to Amman a few weeks later, as if to another planet.’’ ‘‘He’’ is her husband of 20 years. The marriage is over. So concludes the first chapter of Hilary McPhee’s memoir, Other People’s Houses.' (Introduction)
'Elliot Perlman’s prose has a distinctive gait. The loping narrative of Maybe the Horse Will Talk, his captivating, compassionate fourth novel, is set in motion when protagonist Stephen Maserov wakes thinking: ‘‘I am absolutely terrified of losing a job I absolutely hate.” He is then catapulted along a path that could imperil or secure his career and relationships. This flick and skip of reiteration is something of a Perlman signature, conveying the idiosyncrasies of storytelling in its various forms, the palindromic pulse of agitated cognitive processes and the mental pacing of insomniac self-cross-examination.' (Introduction)
