Seven women and three men leave the city to avoid the pandemic. They isolate together in the country, where they pass the time working, flirting, eating, drinking, making music, and, above all, telling stories. For some, the lockdown was a time of bitterness and conspiracy theories, and it was hard for almost everyone. But it was also a time when most people did what they could to look out for each other. The Lockdown Tales: Emergenc e follows the second, more stressful year of lockdown, but again tells stories that are moving, bawdy, funny or satirical, and always compassionate. Praise for The Lockdown Tales "A witty, crisp, and lively imagination let loose: the defiant challenge to a lockdown . . . The best book of stories I've read since Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women , and before that probably David Malouf 's The Complete Stories ." – Adrian Colman, Professor Emeritus of English, University of Tasmania "Alan Whelan brings us a clever, sensual and sometimes poignant collection of stories that would make Boccaccio proud." – Tangea Tansley, author of A Question of Belonging "An old frame for a sharp new snapshot of contemporary Australia." – Leigh Swinbourne, author of Shadow in the Forest ALAN WHELAN is an award winning novelist, poet, and short story writer. He lives in the Blue Mountains, on his wits.