A masterful collection of horizons, departures, heartbreaks and seductions by one of Australia’s short-fiction greats, Josephine Rowe’s Here Until August spans Montreal and Western Australia. It follows the fates of characters who, by choice or by force, are travelling beyond the boundaries of their known worlds. It has been widely lauded, including by Miles Franklin Award–winner Michelle de Kretser, who wrote, “In their steady excavation of intimacy, these spacious stories bring Alice Munro to mind”. Stephanie Bishop meets Josephine to discuss this lyrical, nuanced and scintillating collection.