The Dispossessed

The Dispossessed is a short story collection that shows the many different individuals and groups that make up multicultural Australia. It is full of lively and thought-provoking characters that range from a chatty elderly Aboriginal, to a grandfather who recollects his experiences with an Italian POW, to a Writer in Residence who incites a riot in the small town he is working in. The narrative styles are diverse, including letters and memoirs as well as the usual forms. Humorous stories about parrot podiatrists, women with gun phobias and a visiting poet uncomfortable with his hosts are interspersed with others dealing with Australian pioneering spirit and the Outback.