Just as a good Danish pastry consists of layer upon layer upon layer of rich pastry, so The Body in the Clouds is formed from layers of rich storytelling. In her first novel, shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Book, Ashley Hay takes one moment in history and tells three different stories. Each story is set in and on the lush and beautiful Sydney Harbour but each takes place at a different time in history.

William Dawes is an astronomer who arrives in 1788 with the First Fleet. He is, in fact, the same William Dawes who appears as the central character in The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville. Ted Parker is a young man of the 1930s whose one goal in life is to work on the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Dan Kopek is a banker in the 2000s returning to Sydney after ten years in London because of a family tragedy.

These three men are connected only when they stand on the same piece of ground on the harbour's foreshore. Each witnesses the incredible fall from the bridge of a bridge worker who, against all odds, survives. William Dawes sees a plume of water out of the corner of his eye; he is uncertain what he has witnessed. Ted Parker is a witness to the fall, playing a part in the rescue. Dan Kopek is almost a part of the story, having been told the story of the fall by 'Gramps' more times than he can remember.

Hay manages to shift reality in a way that the reader begins to believe in the possibility that time and place can converge and that imagination and reality can unite. The pacing of this novel is slow, with almost dreamy prose. It could be challenging for the reader with its heavy reliance on symbolism and deliberately slow, unhurried pace. But the story never drags, and the beautifully constructed prose succeeds in not only holding the reader's attention, but keeping her mesmerised and connected to the narrative.

This is a story about the importance of stories in a life. Hay stresses the importance of how stories define us as individuals, define our place in society and within our families and provide us with a sense of belonging.

"'What do you reckon?' she'd asked. 'Do you reckon you could dive in from up there?' Her head had arched so far back it should have cut her breath off. It was the one story she remembered her mother telling her, the one set of words through which she could find the sound of her mother's voice."

All three men are transformed when they witness the fall through the sky. Through this single, shared moment they are finally able to understand what it means to belong, what it means to call a place home.