I Can Jump Puddles: This is Alan Marshall’s own story of his childhood – a happy world in which, despite his crippling poliomyelitis, he plays, climbs, fights, swims, rides and most of all, he laughs. His world was the Australian countryside of early last century: rough-riders, bullock teams, bushmen, horse-drawn vehicles and spinners of ‘yarns’. Encouraged by his father, Alan refused to see himself as a cripple and was determined to achieve physical prowess, competing with the other kids without fear or favour despite his dependence of crutches – and when adults hesitated to teach him skills, he taught himself. Wake In Fright: For outback school teacher John Grant it’s the end of another term, and another trip back to Sydney. He wants to buy out his teaching contract and the only way, it seems, is to gamble. The town of Bundanyabba offers gambling dens…and when he is cleaned out of funds Grant’s five days of utter nightmare begins – a downward spiral into a hell of hangovers, fumbling sexual encounters, and increasing self-loathing as he becomes more and more immersed in the grotesque and surreal nightmare that his life has become. The Fringe Dwellers: Sisters Noonah and Trilby, are young, beautiful – and part aboriginal. The grim alternatives before them are those that most white Australians do not even know about, let alone have to face: the brawling squalor of the camp, the neat ghetto of the Reserve, a bottle of conto and quick love in the sandhills. Noonah is happy to cruise along; but Trilby has the fire to drive her on. But – to what? The Breaker: Breaker Morant was executed at Pietersburg on 27 February 1902 for wilful murder of civilians. Yet to this day his guilt remains in doubt. This is a fully rounded picture of Breaker Morant; a champion horseman, a likeable larrikin, a popular balladist, a soldier and a lover. Was he a cold-blooded killer – or a scapegoat?