Letter to George Clooney

**LONGLISTED FOR THE STELLA PRIZE 2014**

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Debra Adelaide's new collection of short stories intricately maps both the sublime and the mundane landscape of ordinary lives, with her trademark dark wit and luminous intelligence.

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In *Glory in the Flower*, distinguished but disillusioned British poet, Bill, crosses the world on the promise of a prestigious literary festival only to find himself roughing it with an unlikely group of amateur poets, with surprising results.

One man's attempt to negotiate the Australian taxation system reads like a noir thriller in *The Pirate Map*, and the minefield of internet dating in Chance artfully balances the absurd and dark side of the human psyche.

* Harder Than Your Husband* follows a serious-minded administrator as he attempts to navigate the induction of a new, and rather perplexing, employee.

And the final eclipsing story, *Letter to George Clooney*, opens a door into a world of terror and deprivation: searing in its devastating restraint, it demonstrates why Adelaide is one of the finest Australian writers of her generation.