Cirrus@Austlit

'Early Sunday morning in the quiet country town of Stinky Gully, five-year-old Bree-Anna takes her doll Baby for a walk.

'Jake, passing through, hoping to spend the day with his daughter, sees a chubby girl in pink get into a green car.

'Eloise, bar maid and part time cleaner, distracted with protecting her ailing father from her junkie brother, sees pink clothes in loner Randall’s washing basket and doesn’t think twice.

'Bree-Anna’s precious Baby is locked in a suitcase on top of a wardrobe. She has no one to help her and Bree-Anna must remember all of the times she has been brave if she is to survive in Mr Randall’s house.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'With poetic dexterity, Aurealis Award finalist Kathryn Gossow interweaves eight short stories of longing and alienation featuring outcasts and the misunderstood. From a homeless storyteller to a gardening soothsayer, to a copy editor who owns a pair of stubborn chickens, readers will come face to face with the humanity of people easily judged by a rigid society. 

'At the heart of these stories is the Dark Poet, a charismatic and broken man leaving a trail of debris as he drifts in and out of people's lives.'   (Publication summary)

'Is the future set like concrete, or a piece of clay we can mould and change?

'On a remote farm in Queensland, Cassie Shultz feels useless. Her perfect brother Alex has an uncanny ability to predict the weather, and the fortunes of the entire family hinge upon his forecasts. However, her own gift for prophecy remains frustratingly obscure. Attempts to help her family usually result in failure.

'After meeting with her new genius neighbour Athena, Cassie thinks she has unlocked the secret of her powers. But as her visions grow more vivid, she learns that the cost of honing her gift may be her sanity.

'With her family breaking apart, the future hurtles towards Cassie faster than she can comprehend it.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.