In Mary Shelley' s 1818 novel, we last see Dr Frankenstein' s Creature shunned by human society and crossing the Arctic wasteland. What if he were rescued by an eccentric English expedition intent on sailing from pole to pole and back – only to be cast away again in a remote fiord in Aotearoa' s deep south? This intriguing speculation ignites the novella that lies at the heart of Vincent O' Sullivan' s electrifying new story collection Mary' s Boy, Jean-Jacques. Elsewhere, O' Sullivan takes us deep into other times and minds. Two siblings relive a sinister memory of their childhood, an isolated young man learns to walk around the city alone, a Victorian adventurer purchases a human head, and always there is memory, like ' Stonehenge from a choice of angles' . O' Sullivan' s new stories are wry, humane, unsparing, essential.