Bram and his fellow residents are drawn by a dream: the promise of a freeway leading to a new suburb north of the city. The houses are built, but the freeway never comes. One by one, the dreamers leave, until only a small, hardcore group is left - including Bram, One-eyed Michael, and Michael’s self-possessed daughter Jodie.

As the disused houses crumble around them they barricade themselves in. They have a gun, a bulldozer, and a hellbent determination to stay till the end, whatever, whenever, that is. But the authorities have other ideas.

Blueprints for a Barbed-wire Canoe is a bitingly dark take on the great Australian dream. Fable-like, effortlessly readable and ultimately moving, it shows us in full measure the depth of Macauley’s talent.