Why is it that Tim Winton - one of Australia's most popular and literary novelists - has received little sustained critical attention? This collection of essays examines the impact of Winton's work on understanding what it is to be Australian, to be human, to make and question meaning. His novels and short stories are vernacular and lyrical, optimistic and dark, holding up a peculiarly 'Wintonesque' mirror through which Australians - and international readers, differently - can see themselves, refracted. Exploring various themes - such as childhood, masculinity, love, death, landscape, and beauty - the book explores, questions, and debates Winton's fictional works and their contexts in order to understand more fully what is appealing, or unconsciously submerged, or worthy of celebration or interrogation.