A mother drives north with her young children, who watch her and try to decipher her buried grief. Two photographers document a nation's guilt in pictures of its people's hands. An underground club in Western Australia plays jazz to nostalgic patrons dreaming of America's Deep South. A young woman struggles to define herself among the litter of objects an ex-lover has left behind. In short vignettes and longer stories, Josephine Rowe explores the idea of things that are left behind: souvenirs, scars, and prejudice. Rowe captures everyday life in restrained poetic prose, merging themes of collective memory and guilt, permanence and impermanence, and inherited beliefs. These beautifully wrought, bittersweet stories announce the arrival of an exciting new talent in Australian fiction. 'The stories in Tarcutta Wake are potent machines of emotion, miraculous for the human vastnesses they sound by the sparest and surest of means.' Wells Tower Praise for Josephine Rowe 'A brilliant, powerful collection.' Triple R 'Rare, unforgettable.' Readings Monthly 'Inventive, sensitive.' Australian Book Review