I didn't want to be separate any more, I wanted to be the same as the grass and the leaves so we'd all be the one thing and nothing could hurt us any more. Ambitiously spanning both time and space in lyrical prose, The Dark Toy takes us on a surprising and always engaging journey: through the enigmatic landscapes of contemporary Ireland, the sultry sunsets of post-war France, and the sparse outback of apartheid South Africa. Yet, however enthralling the natural beauty of these settings might be, the subversive side of human relationships always comes to the fore. A mother's artistic ambitions are frustrated by the unforgiving bonds of marriage and memory; an adolescent's burgeoning sexual appetites are cruelly thwarted, and a young boy's isolation is sinisterly assuaged. Crowe's lively cast reminds us that the pursuit of self-knowledge is littered with obstacles that can at times seem insurmountable. Tender, comic and tragic by turn, often toying with notions of the supernatural and the gothic, these short stories unequivocally announce the presence of a new literary voice.