AustLit

'Brien Cole has the rare ability in a prose writer of handling flamboyant metaphors with credible panache, and rhythm avoiding the ponderous... We experience the casual interchange between fantasy and reality that distinguishes the best of Peter Carey's work - the insinuating reasonableness of the fable rather than simply gawking at the bizarre. Brien Cole's characters are impossible to place socially - blue collar fringe dwellers, bourgeois drop-outs... They communicate only haphazardly with their fellows, yet feel betrayed by nature. A fascinating collection both of characters and of stories.' (Publication summary)