'These stories draw us into the many worlds of Carol Patterson's imagination and experience, and we immediately become invested, as readers, in the characters and the dilemmas they face. The narrative thrust, along with skilfully constructed dialogue, lead us through the underbrush of human emotions, make us scale the dangerous slopes of risk and loss, hope and abandonment, and take us through torrents toward still waters, or beckon us to further reaches beyond.' - Dr Terry Whitebeach 'What a wealth of lived experience and imagination Carol brings to her writing. And lovely, compelling imagery. She has the ability to transform her experience into something unique and beautiful.' - Jianna Miller 'Carol Patterson writes with consummate subtlety of the vast submerged inner lives of ordinary people. With her careful craft and sensitive touch, Patterson deserves our recognition as one of our most outstanding short fiction writers.' - Robyn Friend