A young girl flies alone to Antarctica. A man goes on holiday and meets the politician he thinks has ruined his life. Here are ordinary characters in unusual circumstances, trying to cope with the vagaries that life throws at them. The unexpected repercussions of going to Thailand for dental work or floundering on the high seas in a sinking yacht. Both comic and poignant, historical and contemporary, these stories range through vastly different settings, moods and voices. Meed Ned Kelly as you've never seen him. Listen to an articulate budgie ruminating on his destiny. There are legal proceedings both in and out of court, as well as on the golf course. From the domestic to the sublime and the sublimely absurd, these stories will take you out of your comfort zone. Blundering through life, O'Flynn's characters adapt to the pitfalls they dig for themselves, coming to grips with their tenuous place in a world slightly off balance. Praise for The Last Days of Ava Langdon: "Ava Langdon is a marvellous creation, and this vivid novel a tribute to the whole process of creating - art, literature, and life." - Miles Franklin Judges' comments, 2017 "The Last Days of Ava Langdon is a work of remarkable formal comcentration. Composed with a poet's ear and feel for the weight of words, its prose is rich and vivid and never less than beautifully rendered." - Judges' comments, Prime Minister's Literary Awards