This collection of stories is the kind of fiction that stops you in your tracks just when you think you have life figured out. It appears they are all about decisions to end relationships, but there are as many new beginnings as endings. The infidelities take the form of lust, resentment, betrayal or in merely not doing what a lover would like or benefit from. People prioritise themselves above their families, or prioritise their families above their partners, often interpreting their actions as some sort of deep subversion. Characters reach out to nature to help them to decide their next move – it drives them on or entraps them in an unchanging present, mesmerised by the way life has turned out, as if none of their decisions were really, truly theirs. Masterfully written, hypnotic and heart-wrenching, these stories are not to be entered into lightly but will fascinate to the last word.
