An anomalous kiss. A white turtle ferrying the dreams of the dead. A working siesta in a five-star hotel. A woman’s twelve metre-hair trawling corpses from a river. Or a queue of longings in Darlinghurst. These enigmatic tales of chance and hope are among twenty-three stories set in the Philippines and Australia. Alternately mythic, wistful or quirky, Merlinda Bobis’ tales resonate with an original and confident storytelling voice.