Dream Stuff is a collection of short stories by the Australian writer David Malouf, published in 2000.

Contents

• "At Schindler's"

• "Closer"

• "Blacksoil Country"

• "Jacko's Reach"

• "Lone Pine"

• "Night Training"

• "Sally's Story"

• "Great Day"

Jacko's Reach Summary

A local council in Sydney, Australia, plans to develop a vacant area called Jacko's Reach. Valmay Mitchell, a thirteen-year-old girl, disappeared when she was in seventh grade —she had last been seen going into Jacko's Reach with a boy on a bike. Searchers cannot find her, but instead discover items they'd lost and spent years looking for. Valmay is later discovered to be pregnant and living in Sydney.

Reception

Peter Craven, in The Sydney Morning Herald, found that in its "finest moments" the author "moves cat-like, with the economy of the true poet to whom language is a musical, not an approximate, medium". Kate Kellaway, of The Observer, similarly felt the collection showed Malouf "at his absolute best".

References