Chris Dreyfus
Three Sydney-ites muddle through a comedy of errors discovering their vulnerabilities and revealing their personal foibles. This is a calamitous, darkly amusing series of interconnected novellas. Read them as distinct stories or as a suite.Sybil’s UnrestSybil is stuck in her bourgeois, mopey rut with a horrible husband, Frank. Still, she has a low golf handicap. Her current reading matter, Jane Austen’s Emma, is offering some guidance - or is it? Until now, inaction has been Sybil’s default, but her world is about to turn pear-shaped when she least expects it. She may avoid the bunkers, yet can she keep clear of the rough?The OccidentalDavid has taken to drinking and brooding in the company of his only friend. Is Frank really a friend? David is astonished that his wife, Audrey, doesn’t like him anymore and would rather enjoy a bit of me-time. Arrangements are made to travel overseas. When plans don’t pan out he retreats to an odd Sydney hotel.BewilderedPlunder is a miserable so-and-so who, fortunately for him, has a delightful wife called Rebel and a long-suffering, genius son, Nick. From Plunder’s point of view, any kind of social interaction is bound to take a dive at some point. They have a dinner party where events go belly-up. Oh, and what’s this about bees?The protagonists cross each other’s paths over one tragic, crazy, ultimately redemptive day.
