Winner, Queensland Literary Awards 2011 A woman finds her everyday life engulfed by vivid fantasies, a businessman explores new ways to deal with his rage, a young woman is stuck on a boat with a bunch of delinquents, a diary is discovered, a commune goes wrong ... In this captivating collection of short fiction, award-winning novelist Amanda Lohrey explores the dilemmas of modern life. Her characters find themselves caught between body and spirit, memory and desire, ambition and mortality – and they must transform themselves or be trapped. Shot through with a serene intelligence, these tales enlighten and entertain in equal measure. “Cool, clear, accomplished tales.”—Sunday Age “Full of gorgeously framed images and language that begs the reader to wholly enter the lives she renders.”—Canberra Times "Not a word out of place...Reading Madame Bovary is a pleasure to read”—Bookseller & Publisher