The blurb on the back of Lie of the Land informs us that the collection ‘reeks of Australia’. Apart from being an unfortunate phrase, the offer of a specifically Australian effluvium is too limiting a promise for this wonderful collection of stories. Clanchy’s world is more expansive, and the lie of the land is in no way circumscribed or even. Set in India and Ireland, as well as in different parts of Australia, Clanchy’s stories are vital and restless, and they offer us undisguised accounts of people in conflict with their environment, with others, and with themselves.
Lie of the Land by John Clanchy
Pascoe Publishing, 243p, $8.95
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