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'The stories in this impressive, thoughtful collection explore the human heart and its desire and capacity for joy.
'A divorced woman discovers a growing sinkhole in her yard, a lonely man finds an abandoned toddler, a second wife in a fundamentalist community questions her religion, a young Australian veteran of the Afghanistan conflict is haunted by a memory from his last mission. Fiona Robertson’s stories traverse the globe to reveal people at moments of change or crisis, as they struggle to repair fractures in their lives and search for something close to happiness.'
Source : publisher's blurb
Notes
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Dedication:
For Dad (Bruce) and Mum (Leonie).
This book began with you.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Have Fun
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; If You're Happy 2022 selected work short story'I am looking for something to say about the short story as a category, something to distinguish it, and my mind alights on the word ‘fun’. Is it possible, I wonder, that the short story permits the author to play, to have fun, in a way that other forms do not? Do we tend to ignore this because the word ‘fun’ is difficult to fit into an aesthetic claim, because the concept itself seems to resist being aestheticised, its monosyllabic punchiness evoking childish play or adult condescension that dodges the analytical eye? It was just a bit of fun. Don’t you know how to have fun? This isn’t fun.' (Introduction)
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Have Fun
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , December 2022;
— Review of What Fear Was 2022 selected work short story ; The Teeth of a Slow Machine 2022 selected work short story ; If You're Happy 2022 selected work short story'I am looking for something to say about the short story as a category, something to distinguish it, and my mind alights on the word ‘fun’. Is it possible, I wonder, that the short story permits the author to play, to have fun, in a way that other forms do not? Do we tend to ignore this because the word ‘fun’ is difficult to fit into an aesthetic claim, because the concept itself seems to resist being aestheticised, its monosyllabic punchiness evoking childish play or adult condescension that dodges the analytical eye? It was just a bit of fun. Don’t you know how to have fun? This isn’t fun.' (Introduction)
