The Slip

These dark, feral and unforgettable short stories are about the things we can't hold onto: a marriage drifting out with the tide, a family collapsing like a wave, a young woman's affair that dissolves as quickly as it ignites. From Melbourne to regional Victoria and beyond, lovers flounder in the push and pull of desire, and families are caught between duty and disarray. A restless couple are visited by an old flame, a washed-up playwright faces his demons and a woman returns to her childhood home to confront her twin brother's ghost. Elsewhere, a one night stand takes a sinister turn, an intoxicated eel writhes its way to the sea and a grieving gardener finds solace in the dirt beneath his nails. Brimming with dark humour, empathy and a sharp eye for the uncanny, this is an electrifying debut from an utterly original new voice.