Shortlisted for the 2017 Miles Franklin Award,the Prime Minister's Award for Fiction and the Victorian Premier's Award forFiction

Big is a hefty cross-dresser and Little is little.Both are long used to the routines of boarding house life in the inner suburbsof Melbourne, but Little, with the prospect of an inheritance, is worrying Bigwith by indulging in dreams of home owenership. Little's cousin, Angus, is asolitary man who designs lake-scapes for city councils, and fireproof housesfor the bushfire zone. A handy man, he meets Jasmin - an academic who races inher ideas as much as in her runners. Her head is set on publishing semioticsbooks on semiotics, her heart is turned towards her stalled personal life. Allfour are waiting, for something, if not someone.

'I knew Philip was a poet but it was obvious to meby the final round that he was also a wonderful storyteller. As you are aboutto see, I was right.' - John Clarke

'Stories with flashes of poetry and sudden insightand such profound compassion that they should be labelled - WARNING: Could makethe reader kinder. Send a copy to a politician'. - Sue Woolfe