A bereaved mother loiters at the school gates; an old man searches through books for the secret to eternal life; a bus driver is obsessed with one of his passengers; a young woman's happiness causes suffering for the rest of the world. In these award winning stories the characters' lives have ceased to flow smoothly. They have lost marriages, children, health, control, but still they try to cope. They find safety in numbers, reassurance in killing; they worship a small girl. These are stories of great traction and voltage, rich in dark humour, beauty and bravura. The False River is a collection for our splintered times.