“Clarkson’s work hums with talent, and the promise of this book, unlike that of the new housing estates, was not merely kept, but surpassed.”

“It is hard to describe the force of these seemingly minor connections except to say they replicate the ramifications of our real lives and in so doing turn a selection of short stories into a profoundly satisfying novel.”

“I adored Rebekah Clarkson’s Barking Dogs. She writes with quite extraordinary precision, compassion and humour. I can’t wait to see what she does next!”

“An intricate and subtle wonder of a book, at once restrained and honest, unsentimental and deeply moving. Rebekah Clarkson is a writer of breathtaking insight and empathy. Like a Raymond Carver of the South Australian suburbs, she chronicles the lives of these ordinary characters with love, humour and sharp precision.”

“This subtle book has a spare, light surface, and startingly memorable depths. The threads that bind it together are either stark and architectural, or all but invisible. Rebekah Clarkson’s work is one of compassion without sentiment; great art without flamboyance or ego. An extraordinary first work of fiction.”

“A distinctly Australian allegory of urban sprawl, McMansions and the plight of the aspirational classes mortgaged to the hilt … Fans of short fiction with a strong Australian flavour will appreciate Clarkson’s satisfying use of both the novel and short story forms, and her ability to sketch intimately relatable characters with humour and generosity, silhouetted against a devastating panorama of contemporary Australia.”

“Clarkson declares “the best response a reader can have is the desire to flip back to the beginning and read again”. Barking Dogs certainly provokes this desire, demonstrating the multifarious potentials of the short story cycle as a form that readers, writers and publishers will continue to develop and embrace in the coming years…”

“I first encountered Rebekah Clarkson’s Barking Dogs (Affirm), her cycle of stories set in Mount Barker, at a reading, where I was mesmerised. Her sentences feel easy, but at close look, are perfectly polished, and her characters are vivid, recognisable and palpably human. She can also be very funny: like the best writers, she conducts an orchestra of motivations and emotions on every page.”

“Clarkson’s work hums with talent, and the promise of this book, unlike that of the new housing estates, was not merely kept, but surpassed.”

“Her ability to sketch intimately relatable characters with humour and generosity, silhouetted against a devastating panorama of contemporary Australia.”

“Quietly devastating and assured in the subtlety of its prose, Barking Dogs will appeal to fans of Holly Throsby’s Goodwood and Josephine Rowe’s A Loving, Faithful Animal. It extends and innovates within the structure of the debut short-fiction collection – creating a work of collage that is more than the sum of its parts.”