In the opening story, a teacher in a remote outback school is moved by the fact that none of her students has ever seen the ocean: ‘Forget about nations based on land boundaries, what links us all is our shared origin in the sea.’ This idea of the ocean as linking humans rather than separating them resonates throughout the collection. Cole is similarly attentive to notions of home, exploring the concept from a variety of perspectives, yet always working from the position that, at some point in history, the forebears of all non-Indigenous Australians have crossed oceans to make this land their home.

While most of the stories stand alone, Cole plays with mini-cycles, some characters reappearing in multiple stories throughout the collection. Various stories delve into the plight of refugees and the dangers of seeking asylum by sea, but Cole broaches the subject without any sense of didacticism. Cole deftly lifts the edges of people’s lives and looks beneath, camouflaging her insights with a deceptively light touch. This intelligent collection reminds us of all that unites us as humans: love, family, and the desire for a safe place to call home.