Drawing on memories of childhood, farming communities and the physical routines of agricultural work, Ryan examines the distance between rural mythology and lived experience.

Calves die, crops are harvested, machinery ages, and the ordinary objects of labour accumulate emotional significance. He floats between precise observation and moments of tenderness, estrangement and moral discomfort, tracing relationships through remembered conversations, gestures and the complicated process of separation from first homes.

The title's reference to a common rock-forming mineral suggests something of the collection's sensibility: an interest in the materials beneath familiar surfaces, and in the slow processes through which landscapes, memories and identities acquire their shape.

Recent Work Press, Canberra, 2023. First edition. Paperback with illustrated wrappers featuring James St John's photograph of chromian jade. Very good condition, with minimal visible shelfwear. Interior pages appear clean and well preserved.