David Ballantyne

"There was an old man who lived on the edge of the world and he had a horse called Sydney Bridge Upside Down." A captivating opening line of a gothic novel superficially about a boy in rural New Zealand in the 1930s. However the tone and voice of the narrative changes from the original boyish perspective of the narrator, to something darker - even unhinged. The plot is simple on the surface but its undercurrents disturb.

The people in the fourteen short stories that make up this book are New Zealanders, but their pleasures, desires, and problems are those to be met everywhere. City-dwellers for the most part, they seek happiness in ways that sometimes conflict with the conventions of a modern urban society.

Harry Baird lives with his mother, father and younger brother Cal in Calliope Bay, at the edge of the world. Summer has come, and those who can have left the bay for the allure of the far away city. Among them is Harry's mother, who has left behind a case of homemade ginger beer and a vague promise of return.