Publisher's Synopsis
In A Fixed Place, we find moments that were held-moments of stasis, of hard-won clarity, of sexuality, joy, confusion, and compassion. The collection includes pieces that span more than half a lifetime: from the story of a child who struggles to come to terms with the weirdness of her extended family ("A Fixed Place"), to the story of a young teenager trying to comprehend tales told around the kitchen table that defy interpretation ("The Origins and History of Aquarelle Taffeta"), to the complexities of lesbian sexuality ("Not Unlike the Peeling of Many Bells" and "International lesbians-portraits") and interracial adoption/fostering ("Goat Song"). Employing a range of styles and stylistic devices, the innovative language and format of each story is carefully crafted to match subject matter. Whether in slave-like conditions in quiet suburbs or in dreamlike states on the horizon of the Australian imagination, the characters and their stories are in our cultural DNA and need to be remembered.
