From one of Australia's greatest novelists comes this fine collection, a storyteller's journey. These short stories and essays, written over the last forty years, comprise an insightful and intelligent meditation on the life of the novelist and the culture of contemporary Australia. Personal and intimate as many of these pieces are, this collection forms a kind of assured autobiography, of the sort that only Alex Miller could write.Alex Miller's stories are told with a rare level of wisdom and profundity, engaging the intellect and the emotions simultaneously. Stories are, after all, in his blood.'Alex Miller has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature and to our cultural and intellectual life.' Melbourne Prize for Literature Judges' Statement, 2012'Coal Creek is a triumph.' Tim Winton'Miller's voice is never more pure or more lovely than when he channels it through an instrument as artless as Bobby.' Geordie Williamson, The Monthly (on Coal Creek)'Alex Miller is a wonderful writer.' John Banville, author of The Sea'Alex Miller has an extraordinary ability to uncover the connections among people - individuals, races, nations.' Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian'A wonderful novel of stunning intricacy and great beauty.' Michael Ondaatje (on The Ancestor Game).