Grenville puts the case that: 'The voice of debate might stimulate the grey cells, and the dry voice of "facts" might lull us into being comfortable, even relaxed. But it takes the voice of fiction to get the feet walking in a new direction.' She illuminates her discussion with references to Thea Astley's
A Kindness Cup and to official reports of the punitive raid on the Aboriginal people of Botany Bay in December 1790.