Living as a Moon

The twenty-five stories move between Europe and the Antipodes and through a wide cast: soldiers in the territorials, office staff, young New Zealanders abroad, tree surgeons, academics, motel owners, boarding-house lodgers. In the title story a woman going nowhere at work discovers a talent for impersonation, and finds that the new life comes at a cost. Patrick's life changes after he crosses paths by chance with a murderer; the newly widowed Margaret makes a journey back into her past; Ian takes up work in telephone sex to meet his wife's hopes of a better life. In one story set in a future republic, Liddel Bunsen stands trial for eating vegetables; in two others, recovering alcoholics look back on their parents and on fellow boarders.

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About the book

Form

Short stories

Length

304 pages in the original

First published

2009 by Vintage

Author's age

68 when first published

ISBN

9781869792510 (Vintage, New Zealand)