Reviews

High art, in which, as Yeats ordained, the stitching and unstitching never show, transforms the do-nothing town of Cobargo, New South Wales, into a neighborhood alive with the dreams and disappointments of a handful of mostly poor farmers, who invite the reader into the parlor to share the gossip. Although these are short stories (posthumously published in the U.S.) by the prize-winning author of The Home Girls , the characters intermingle: Mary Jussep--whose mother, in ``Scones Every Day,'' says, ``I feel crook'' and dies--reappears in ``Stan and Mary, Mary and Stan,'' pursued on horseback by young Stan Rossmore, scion of Cobargo's stuffy and sole rich family. ``The Wedding'' recounts their bumpy road toward matrimony, the neighbors suspiciously ``darting their eyes at Mary's waist'' while wishing their daughters could snare a Rossmore. In each story, one visits familiar people, joins in conversations and hears many points of view, savoring ``the richness of choice'' offered to readers in Masters's many-layered, resonant volume. (Apr.)

Don't pass up this collection of 17 interrelated stories from an author who is highly regarded in Australia. Reminiscent of Our Town , they provide an intimate look at village life in New South Wales during the Depression. The women in these tales are trapped in a patriarchal society that sees them as servants to men and mothers to large broods of children. Families are poor, uneducated, and often hungry; neighbors gossipy, suspicious, and mean-spirited. Yet somehow this dreary environment produces memorable underdogs full of hope and courage. The late Masters was a journalist and mother of seven who started writing fiction when she was in her fifties. Whether inspirational or satirical, her writing is always entertaining.-- Dean Willms, Fort Collins P.L., Col.