In these extraordinary tales about ordinary people from ordinary places, Tim Winton describes turnings of all kinds: second thoughts, changes of heart, nasty surprises, slow awakenings, abrupt transitions. The seventeen stories overlap to paint a convincing and cohesive picture of a world where people struggle against the terrible weight of their past and challenge the lives they have made for themselves. 'Always a writer of crystalline prose, his lines of sinewy leanness achieve such clarity here that it seems one is reading line after line of perfect music ...To read Winton is to be reminded not just of the possibilities of fiction but of the human heart' - "The Times". 'The laureate of Western Australia is back...this is like Carver, happily with a very large dose of Winton' - "Time Out". 'These stories are threaded through with subtleties and oblique connections; to be fully appreciated, they need to be read more than once. But Winton's writing - vigorous, vivid, precise - is so good that you'd want to do that anyway' - "Sunday Times".