The characters in Julia MacDonnell's first collection, The Topography of Hidden Stories, grapple with doubt and disquiet in their search for love and connection, for their own place in the world, and create a shining tapestry of women's lives in the late 20th and the early 21st centuries. Several feature women trapped in a pious patriarchy that has yet to loosen its control of women's lives, especially their creative power and fertility. However difficult their situations, these characters confront experience with sharp eyes, ironic wit, and a potent sense of their own historical matrix. Through prose that glistening with imagery and figurative language, they express a progressive consciousness and a honed feminist edge.