It’s footy season in Melbourne, and Helen Garner is following her grandson’s under-16s team. She not only goes to every game (give or take), but to every training session too, shivering on the sidelines at dusk, fascinated by the spectacle.She’s a passionate Western Bulldogs fan (with an imperfect

Michael and Mary Shelley were glamorous Sydney socialites, who became Christian fanatics and kidnappers. Three of their children - Steven, John and Hannah - were secretly placed into foster care with my parents, Lenore and Tom Blaine. The Shelleys were apocalyptically irritated to discover that the children of God had been fostered by working-class Queensland…

Anna Funder