Cirrus@Austlit

'Carol Chandler’s writing subtly compels you into a ‘dark wood’, of her characters’ ‘niggling restlessness’ so you feel you have one foot in ordinary ‘reality’ and one (metaphorical) foot in the dubious illumination of dream/memory/speculation … These are forcefully charged fragments of (dis)connection where glittering surfaces and shadowy, half-accusatory memories and perceptions create a powerful sense of undercurrent. This is rich, liminal prose that keeps you constantly engaged, wanting clarity and resolution in a world of compromised relationships and disturbing self-awareness. Clever, high-tensile paranoia … (David Gilbey, President, Booranga Writers' Centre, Charles Sturt University).'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Determined to uncover the truth behind her brother’s sudden death, a young woman returns to the haunting landscape of her youth to confront the town she thought she’d left behind and the secrets they’d rather stay hidden.' (Publication summary)

'A woman returns to visit a man she had an affair with. She was friends with his wife during the affair and the three of them were involved in a car accident where the wife was killed. The wife was driving and there was some suspicion it was an act of suicide but the narrator also feels guilty that she might have done more to save her during the accident. During her visit to the man she experiences a growing feeling that the man could have saved his wife in the accident but didn't.'

Synopsis provided by author.

'A young girl’s sexual awakening is contrasted with her parents’ infidelities, jaded sexuality and hypocrisy.'

Synopsis supplied by author.

An anthology from the Bondi Writers' Group which is the Eastern Suburbs branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.