These short stories are about accepting life for what it is, the importance of being an achiever in school and finally, the dangers of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

Kwaaikofski is ’n privaatspeurder. Hy het nou eenmaal ’n talent daarvoor. Gee hom ’n glas melk, Carpenters kougom en sy spesiale kep en hy is gereed vir enigiets! Hierdie omnibus bevat drie van Speurder Kwaaikofski se gewildste avonture vir beginnerlesers. Hierdie keer krap ’n ander speurder krap in sy slaai, hy moet uitvind wie Olga se luukse motor beskadig het en hy beland boonop in die kollig op die verhoog . . .

An anthology of dark, powerful and moving short stories from a master storyteller and Hans Christian Andersen Award winning author, inspired by his childhood in the north-east of England. A diverse collection of stories from the author of the internationally award-winning Skellig, deftly interwoven with illuminating autobiographical pieces on the inspirations behind the fiction. David Almond says of this unique volume, "Stories on the page are so beautifully neat. All that lovely black print; those lovely straight lines and paragraphs and pages. But stories are living things, creatures that move and grow in the imaginations of writer and reader. They must be solid and touchable, like the land, and must have fluid half-known depths, like the sea. These stories take place in a real world - but in fiction, real worlds merge with dreamed worlds. Real people walk with ghosts and figments. Earthly truth goes hand-in-hand with watery lies."