This debut short story collection from an Australian author delvesinto the shifting boundaries and human displacement of our era. OfIndian-Malaysian background, Sreedhevi Iyer is adept at locating tensionswithin her own diaspora while also casting a forensic eye on Australian socialand cultural attitudes. A teacher of creative writing at RMIT and theUniversity of Melbourne, Iyer has a gift for radiant prose, but also an astonishingrange of voices, from simple riffs on backyard suburbia to the magic realism ofa narrative told by a "divine" coconut. Her sharp wit and sense of irony keepstories of refugees, inter-racial tension and human prejudice profoundly in oursights.    

'Iyer has an incredible knack for locating and revealingfractures, faultlines and tensions - cultural, familial and historical - in anygiven moment.' - Benjamin Law

'a fresh new voice, brimming with vibrancy and insight.' - Cate Kennedy

'These are all tales of displacement and cultural cross-currents, and while they feature many different characters and voices, they all reveal a restless, questing intelligence and a real gift for storytelling.' - Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald

'...Iyer traverses a range ofgeographical and cultural settings, digging persistently into questions ofidentity, of the powerful and the marginalised, of distinctive and not alwayscompatible world views, of cultural assumptions...Initially, Iyer's prose seemsmeasured - calm as a pond, in places. But the boldness and energy of her gaze,as well as its grace, are quickly apparent. Her stories have sharp but generoushumour and a mostly seamless slipping of cultural and political ideas intoplots. But the book's most striking quality is Iyer's ability to conjure acacophony of distinctive, convincing voices.' - Patrick Allington, Mekong Review