'This month marks the 100th birthday of Australia's prodigal son: our best novelist, muckraker, playwright, dog breeder - you name it. I'll try to avoid sycophancy, but Paddy White was the one who got me started. I read all of his novels and plays before I was 25 and, I suppose, his voice still resonates in mine, as it does in that of most Australian writers.' (Author's introduction)