The Best Australian Stories 2012 — Sonya Hartnett

'These stories are breath-takers, the ones which render nothing more important than discovering what happens next.'-SONYA HARTNETT

The Best Australian Stories 2012 is the country's premier annual collection of short fiction. This year sees Sonya Hartnett select thirty-two remarkable stories that roam widely in subject and style, but share 'a delicate complexity and a vibrant cleverness.'

A travelling scout for a modern-day freak show meets a girl with a strange and wonderful gift. A winning lottery ticket tests the bonds of three mismatched siblings. A beast of burden offers an alternative account of Australian settlement.

There is dark humour, stealthy and unsettling, and moments of terror, whimsy, romance and surprise. What unites them is a steadfast commitment to the storyteller's art - the art of making the reader want to turn the page.