In "The Queensland Collection" the writer's gifts-- grasp of story, observant eye and empathetic heart---are once again on full display. Characters move effortlessly from his imagination onto the page: the four elderly sisters in "The Begums of Nambour", who weave a seemingly magical spell over their young visitors from the city: the muscular cross-dresser in "My Western Women", who single-handedly resolves a dangerous predicament at a friend's hotel: the Silky Oak kitchen dresser who endures Dickensian ups and downs throughout "A Colourful Life". (Iddon chooses to tell this story as the piece of furniture, and carries off the impersonation with virtuosity).

A reader of the stories in the earlier volume in this series wrote that "he gets it so right." This is an author we are proud to publish.