Janette Turner Hospital's story collection includes a short sequence of four stories about the friendship between two Australians, Philippa and Brian, artist and scientist. She also writes about an abused child, a woman who flees her old life after a tragedy, and a white Bostonian with a black daughter in Georgia. Hospital, though born in Brisbane, has lived all over the world, and her characters often face geographical dislocation, and the tension between the need for freedom and the loneliness of belonging nowhere. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.