Sergeant Lillian Armfield leans forward.
What about Black Ada’s, Webber? I know you two went there.
What sort of people go there?
Iris smiles.
The sort of people you coppers like to bash.
In late 1932, Iris Webber arrives in Sydney looking for work but the city is
still in the grip of the Great Depression and there are few jobs for women at
the best of times. She makes her way as best she can: a scam here, a shoplift
there, busking with an accordion. And she knows how to use a gun.
When Iris meets young sex worker Maisie Matthews, everything
changes. But what options are there in a world where even on the margins,
queer desire is harshly punished? The only way forward is paved with
violence.
Whip smart, fierce, a woman far ahead of her time, Iris navigates
these mean streets with a growing awareness not just of herself, but also of
the system enclosing her: narrow, corrupt, brutally prejudiced. Yet there is
still joy to be had, sometimes even transcendence.
From acclaimed best-selling author of Indelible Ink comes another great
novel of the city. Peeling back the layers of history, McGregor reveals a
teeming social portrait of schemers, gamblers, goodtime girls, gangsters and
sly-groggers. Based on actual events, narrated in gritty lyrical prose, this
novel is a dazzling literary achievement from one of Australia's most
exciting writers. Iris’s voice will hypnotise you.
