Cirrus@Austlit

'It’s been a year of dogs. Tilly and Chilli and Louis and George and Lulu and Chip. The handsome Groodles — one a forest of golden curls, the other a tumble of butterscotch tresses — jogging with their athletic owners; they sprint across the road at precisely the same time each day, pausing just long enough to sniff cursorily in our direction (is that a gesture of friendly acknowledgement or chilly superiority?) before disappearing up the road.' (Introduction)

'Vaccine comparisons. Mass protests. Interstate sniping. Quarantine complaints. Community scapegoating. The pandemic soundtrack closes around us like an ever-tightening girdle; each new statistic and flash of opinion and political obfuscation turns the screw further. The daily press conferences have become morbid viewing, sound clips looping on endless repeat, channels of doom. As the miasma invades my psyche I realise it’s not the lockdown or even the pandemic causing the greatest distress; it’s the dissent emanating like scattershot from the calamity’s core. Everywhere I look, it seems, there is something ready to flay my already-scorched nerves.' (Introduction)

'The leaves are turning again, their rims crisping at the margins and their laminas flushing a deep red. The fluorescent pink flowers of the crepe myrtle are dissolving like clumps of moistened fairy floss; their leaves — which appeared so late in spring I thought the tree might have died — are yellowing before my eyes, a slow-motion blur of green to the buttery gold that will precipitate their demise. High in the paperbark tree, a rainbow lorikeet is admonishing an Indian minor; they’re fighting beak and claw over the creamy filaments of autumn’s already-moribund blossoms.' (Introduction)

'Running doesn't have to be a race. There are no winners and losers in this story - only the joy of being active in the playground, and of building strength, fitness and resilience. Learning a new skill can be challenging, but confidence comes through practice, learning from others and perseverance.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'Three weeks ago I was sitting in the back of a Russian-built tank as it sliced its way through the tundra of Siberia's northern Yamal Peninsula. I was part of an expedition north of Salekhard, the only city in the world to straddle the Arctic Circle's 66th parallel, to a camp where the nomadic reindeer herders known as Nenet had set up their chums, or tents. We had already been driving for many long hours, and now we were faced by a rising river that had to somehow be crossed if we were to make our way back to Salekhard and then across Russia's vast interior to Moscow, by train, and then, finally, home.' (Introduction)