{"product_id":"bad-dreams-and-other-stories","title":"Bad Dreams and Other Stories","description":"In these short stories it's the ordinary things that turn out to be most extraordinary: the history of a length of fabric, say, and a forgotten jacket. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, strange in the dark; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and carelessly: the stories focus in on crucial moments of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonists. A girl accepts a lift in a car with some older boys, or a young woman reads the diaries she comes across when she's housesitting. Small acts have large consequences, and some of them reverberate across decades; things fantasised in private can reach out to affect other people, for better and worse. An older woman recovering from serious illness speaks to a lonely young man on a train; an old friend brings bad news to a dinner party; a schoolteacher in the throes of a painful affair in 1914 has mixed feelings about her pupils' suffragette-craze. The real things that happen to people, the accidents that befall them, are every bit as mysterious as their longings and their dreams.","brand":"Atticus Bookshop Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47415737745657,"sku":"9781784704049","price":22.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/4535\/6025\/files\/11655323482823.jpg?v=1770956498","url":"https:\/\/www.atticusbooksandart.com.au\/products\/bad-dreams-and-other-stories","provider":"Atticus Bookshop Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}