An anomalous kiss. A white turtle ferrying the dreams of the dead. A working siesta in a five-star hotel. A womanAzAzAzs twelve-metre hair trawling corpses from a river. Or a queue of longings in Darling

Once the turtle was small and blue-black like a polished stone. Carried on its back the dreams of Iraya's dead children that later sprouted into corals the colour of bones. After many funerals, the turtle grew larger and lighter in colour, finally turning white, bone-white... These enigmatic tales of hope and chance and hope are among twenty-three stories set in the Philippines and Australia. Alternately mythic, wistful and quirky, Merlinda Bobis' tales resonate with an original and confident storytelling voice.