Sisters and mothers, housewives and witches, the prophetess Cassandra and the Queen of the Britons Boudicca - in her debut collection of stories, Gwen Kirby writes about women often teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Every story here brings surprises: instructions for laying tiles in a bathroom turn into a high tragedy, a review of a restaurant becomes a reflection on a not-so-successful marriage, and one of the most touching stories revolves around a stuffed kangaroo forgotten in a suitcase. Kirby's very daring, funny and invariably humane texts are built around women, but the experience of her heroines is universal: they are ready to confront an imperfect and sometimes simply hostile world with all the rage and love of which they are capable. The book contains obscene language.