Cirrus@Austlit

'A grieving daughter navigates the morning commute, her mind bursting with memories pleading to be shared.

'A man made entirely of well-cut suits and strictly enforced rules swims his regular morning laps and fantasises about his self-assured promotion.

'A young lawyer sits in a fluorescent-lit office, typing indecipherable jargon and dreaming of everything she didn't become.

'A failed news hack hides under the covers from another looming deadline, and from a past that will not relent its pursuit.

'And a young woman seeking asylum sits tensely on an unmoving train, praying that good news waits at the other end of the line...

'In this charming, moving and affectionate novel, Claire Varley paints a magical portrait of five ordinary people, and the sometimes heartbreaking power of the stories we make of ourselves.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A trip to Iran offers a reminder that people are not their governments and governments aren't always their people.'

'There are seven billion people in the world. This is the story of two of them.

'After an unfortunate incident in an airport lounge involving an immovable customs officer, a full jar of sun-dried tomatoes and the capricious hand of fate, Oliver meets Alison. In spite of this less than romantic start, Oliver falls in love with her.

'Immediately.

'Inexplicably.

'Irrevocably.

'With no other place to be, Alison follows Oliver to the Solomon Islands where he is planning to write his much-anticipated second novel. But as Oliver's story begins to take shape, odd things start to happen and he senses there may be more hinging on his novel than the burden of expectation. As he gets deeper into the manuscript and Alison moves further away from him, Oliver finds himself clinging to a narrative that may not end with 'happily ever after'.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.