These brilliant and absorbing stories are set in the suburbs of contemporary Australia - but their themes are universal.

The narratives move, in the words of compiler Barry Oakley, 'behind the front fence, past the tidiness of the front garden, and into the secrecies of the house'.

While the overall theme of the narratives is domestic, there is little of domesticity about them. Barry Oakley has chosen each story not only for its entertainment value but also for its capacity to conjure up the uncertainty, tragedy and humour of everyday life. The resulting anthology contains some of the finest work by many of Australia's most gifted contemporary writers - together with stories by some refreshing new ones.

Each section explores a theme and each story has a brief explanatory introduction.