Too Much on the Inside explores the depths of coincidence and human connection, as they collide with the impossible task of forgetting the past. Three immigrants, and one Canadian from rural Nova Scotia, all in their twenties, are soon to discover their interconnected fates. They are world travellers, escapists and dreamers, at a crossroads on Toronto 's Queen Street West, the setting for this novel and its quartet of voices. While each will experience love, culture shock and joy, it's their unique periphery that draws readers into their emotional worlds and orients them to the realities of life in countries as diverse as South Africa, Israel and Brazil. Too Much on the Inside is a human cross-section of romance, solitude and perseverance in the vein of such contemporary novels as Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, Camilla Gibb's family saga The Petty Details of So and So's Life, and J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, mixed with Botha's own sensitive style and charm.