The Reservoir is a collection of stories, sketches, poetic fragments, and memoirs-as-short-story. Set mostly in the author's native New Zealand, these works depict humankind's battle against disillusionment and emptiness. In the title story, a little girl takes her first walk to a forbidden reservoir. The bad poet in "The Chosen Image" struggles until self-deception wins out. Lauded as "one of the great writers of our time" (San Francisco Chronicle), Frame displays her boundless imagination and magical use of language.