In Sydney, acclaimed playwright and writer Louis Nowra – author of Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo – expands his gaze to explore the energy, beauty, vulgarity, dynamism and pulsating sense of self-importance of his adopted city. This big, bustling portrait of Sydney is told through a cast of criminals and premiers, ordinary folk, entertainers, artists, thieves and visionaries.

Along with its people Nowra surveys the city’s landscape, its architecture, and its global identity. And as Sydney’s history unfolds throughout the twentieth century and beyond, Nowra revels in its neon lights, music, skyscrapers, sense of optimism and the many disparate elements that shape Sydneysiders’ view of themselves.

‘Nowra captures the everchanging spirit of what is arguably – to most, inarguably to Nowra – Australia’s pre-eminent city.’ – Books+Publishing