The High Places: Stories - Softcover

“McFarlane writes with a deceptively plain hand, and her style gives shape to the unanswered questions of how well we can ever know each other or ourselves...The writing is clever and skillful in spades.”―Kirkus Reviews

“Having triumphantly debuted with The Night Guest, which won the inaugural Voss Literary Prize and the Barbara Jefferis Award and was short-listed for a stack of others, McFarlane returns with a collection of short stories. She unsettled us then, and she unsettles us now, offering narratives that explore characters at the emotional borders.”―Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

“Her debut novel, The Night Guest, earned McFarlane a reputation as a wise-beyond-years storyteller. [The High Places] reinforces it...It’s a joy to dwell in McFarlane’s rich new world.”―Booklist

"McFarlane has a gift for cutting into a story at precisely the right angle. . . . Her writing is skilled; her point of view is unique."―The Times (London)

"In her distinct and unusual voice―the disconcerting tone and dry humor are reminiscent of Margaret Atwood or Valerie Martin―McFarlane examines relationships with uncomfortable clarity and insight, observing the subtext of human behavior while acknowledging a mysterious power behind the reality we think we know."―Daily Mail (London)

"The High Places is superb. . . . Every one of the thirteen stories is a winner."―The Saturday Paper (Melbourne)