Natalie and Ross struggle to stay in the middle class in a Melbourne suburb, with their likable son and daughter, 12 and 7. Their lives are upended one August day when Natalie faints during a routine medical checkup: it's an aneurysm followed by major surgery, convalescence, and a doctor's advice to avoid heavy lifting, straining on the toilet, stifled sneezes, and orgasms. Over the next year, we watch the family in vignettes, one each month: domestic frustrations, a tempting colleague, Christmas, a pet fish, a holiday, a church choir and conversations about God, a chicken hawk, a birthday party, football games, and fears that another aneurysm is just a sneeze away.
—<jhailey@hotmail.com>