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Life and Breath: Stories
"It was a sunny, light-aired day, and we walked quickly down the street strewn with gumnuts. I remember taking several deep breaths, as if to reassure myself that whatever had happened to my strong, smiling uncle, I was still alive and was going to keep on living, and that life and breath were very good things."
Discoveries from the past, hopes for the future – and the decisions we make on a knife edge that clarify our own sense of self.
These elements inform Ursula Dubosarsky’s multi-award-winning novels and are in sharp, bright evidence in these eleven beautifully crafted short stories, by turns poignant, funny, reflective and joyful – nearly always mercurial – collected together for the first time.
"The most graceful, most original writer for young people in Australia—probably the world " (Sonya Hartnett).
Discoveries from the past, hopes for the future – and the decisions we make on a knife edge that clarify our own sense of self.
These elements inform Ursula Dubosarsky’s multi-award-winning novels and are in sharp, bright evidence in these eleven beautifully crafted short stories, by turns poignant, funny, reflective and joyful – nearly always mercurial – collected together for the first time.
"The most graceful, most original writer for young people in Australia—probably the world " (Sonya Hartnett).
144 pages, Paperback
Published March 2, 2026
About the author
Ursula Dubosarsky
104 books101 followersUrsula Dubosarsky is an award-winning author of numerous books for children and young adults. About The Golden Day, her first book with Candlewick Press, she says, "The little girls watch, wonder, respond, change, and grow — and then their childhood is gone, forever. This element of the story, I suppose, is at least partly autobiographical. But, as I say — all of our teachers come home safe and sound in the end." Ursula Dubosarsky lives in Australia.
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April 29, 2026A collection of short stories from the archives of Ursula Dubosarsky- famously a children’s and younger high school readers author.
Excitedly, I dipped in and read during commutes this week.
Stories of Guinea pigs, traditional family Sunday dinner, the arrival of a new baby sibling and,Australian family domestic stories of WWII.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend a couple of the stories in this collection to primary readers: the ‘horror story’ of ‘The Golden Gate’ for one:
”She turned and gazed up at me in terror. Her white face was so small under the pith helmet, so small, so beseeching, so frightened, so determined. Her whole body slipped.
“Help me!” She screamed. “Help me! I’m falling!”
I stretched out my hand. I cried out to her ‘Davy!’ but she was gone, soundlessly, into the black depths.
Not a splash, not a thud, not a rattle. Only the emptiness of death.
Next morning they found her body, swept up through the passage of underground drains to the nearby shores of the river. Next morning, too, my mother got out of bed for the first time since her brother’s death, to go with my father to identify the body.
As an adult reading these short stories over the ANZAC Day long weekend I appreciated the details and overall themes. But, I disagree with reviews and reviewers who recommend this collection for primary school.
Excitedly, I dipped in and read during commutes this week.
Stories of Guinea pigs, traditional family Sunday dinner, the arrival of a new baby sibling and,Australian family domestic stories of WWII.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend a couple of the stories in this collection to primary readers: the ‘horror story’ of ‘The Golden Gate’ for one:
”She turned and gazed up at me in terror. Her white face was so small under the pith helmet, so small, so beseeching, so frightened, so determined. Her whole body slipped.
“Help me!” She screamed. “Help me! I’m falling!”
I stretched out my hand. I cried out to her ‘Davy!’ but she was gone, soundlessly, into the black depths.
Not a splash, not a thud, not a rattle. Only the emptiness of death.
Next morning they found her body, swept up through the passage of underground drains to the nearby shores of the river. Next morning, too, my mother got out of bed for the first time since her brother’s death, to go with my father to identify the body.
As an adult reading these short stories over the ANZAC Day long weekend I appreciated the details and overall themes. But, I disagree with reviews and reviewers who recommend this collection for primary school.
Displaying 1 of 1 review