What Came Between
Patrick Cullen
‘Patrick Cullen stood out as a fascinating short story writer and he continues to dazzle us with his storytelling.’
Frank Moorhouse
One street. Three couples. A world of possibilities.
In 1989 the Newcastle earthquake opens up faultlines in the relationships of three couples who reside in adjoining terraces, changing their lives irreparably. Each of those six people now has to discover new ways to negotiate marriage and infidelity, careers and unemployment, friendship and loss. First they need to learn how to survive each day. Then, a decade later — as the city’s major employer, the steelworks, shuts down — they must begin to live as if each night were their last.
Written in spare prose, What Came Between takes ordinary lives and makes them both familiar and extraordinary. Through the accumulation of telling details, Patrick Cullen creates a compelling portrait of what it’s really like to live now — in one street, in one city.
Reviews
‘What Came Between is suburban drama drawn to an intimate scale. Cullen’s dialogue is sharp and restrained, his subject the ordinary trials of ordinary people – infidelity and unemployment, ill health and new life … It takes a particular talent to make the mundane seem extraordinary, and Cullen has it in spades.’
Cameron Woodhead, The Age
‘Luminous and compelling, Patrick Cullen’s storytelling lures us into his brilliantly realised world.’
Paddy O’Reilly
» All reviews for this title‘Patrick Cullen is a masterful storyteller and an exciting new voice in Australian fiction.’
Tony Birch
