Fiona McFarlane - The High Places - Stories

First, as always, my family: Ian, Lyn, Katrina, Evan, Bonita, and Rowan McFarlane. In loving memory of Janice Jessop, my beautiful Aunty Jan. And welcome, little Anneka.

Everyone at the Gernert Company, but especially my wonderful, wise, patient agent, Stephanie Cabot, who has trusted and guided me since the time of angels. Particular thanks to Chris Parris-Lamb for his brilliant readings of the earlier stories.

Everyone at Penguin Books Australia, especially Ben Ball and Meredith Rose. At Sceptre, Carole Welch and Nikki Barrow. And at FSG, Mitzi Angel and Ileene Smith. Thank you for taking such care of my words, and for making them so much better.

All the editors who worked on the published versions of these stories, particularly Michael Ray at Zoetrope: All-Story , Deborah Treisman at The New Yorker , and Evelyn Somers at The Missouri Review .

The writing of this book was supported by generous grants and fellowships from the Australia Council for the Arts; St John’s College, Cambridge; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; Phillips Exeter Academy; and the Michener Center for Writers. Thank you for making these stories possible.

At Cambridge: the NCR — especially Andrew Goodwin, Jonathan Gledhill, and Keiko Nowacka — and the AAAW. Also Sarah Hall, Bharat Tandon, and Jacob Polley, with thanks for their early encouragement.

At the Fine Arts Work Center: Salvatore Scibona, Roger Skillings, and the glorious Fellows of 2006–7 and 2007–8 (especially the fiction writers). Members of Stuckshop: Mabel, unstuck, is for you, with eternal gratitude.

At the University of Texas: my beloved Michener class of 2012, all the other writers I shared classes and margaritas with, and all their partners and children, who became my Texan family. My teachers, Elizabeth McCracken (again and again and again), Edward Carey, Pete La Salle, Tony Giardina, Joseph Skibell, Jim Crace, and Brigit Pegeen Kelly. Jim Magnuson, Marla Akin, Debbie Dewees, Michael Adams, and Elizabeth Cullingford, for all their wisdom, encouragement, and kindness. The citizens of Porway. And my smart, funny, talented students.

Back in Sydney: Prue Axam, Ceridwen Dovey, Michelle de Kretser, Jack Ellis, Erin Gough, Liz Allen, Emma Kersey, Amelia Westlake, Cathryn Lee, and the St George gang. You’ve made me love being home again.

Sophie Smith, Steve McClure, and Cheri Johnson for taking such beautiful care of India and Charlotte.

India and Charlotte.

Special thanks and love to Virginia Reeves, Sally Smith, Sean Pryor, Nam Le, Luke Muszkiewicz, Hannah and Margot Muszkiewicz, Kate Finlinson, and Mimi Chubb. Your friendship has been so important to this book and to me.

And to Emma Jones, who read every word first — thank you, for everything. This book is yours.

Fiona McFarlane was born in 1978 in Sydney, Australia, and holds degrees in English from Sydney University and Cambridge University, as well as an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a Michener Fellow. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Zoetrope: All-Story, The Missouri Review , and The Best Australian Stories . Her debut novel, The Night Guest , was the winner of the inaugural Voss Literary Prize and shared the 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award, and was short-listed for the 2014 Guardian First Book Award, the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the Stella Prize, and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. She lives in Sydney. You can sign up for email updates here.