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Melbourne, 1893. Banks are crashing, businesses failing, the unemployed and starving marching in the streets. The aftermath of the greed and corruption of the 1880s is 'an inferno of dishonesty and ruthlessness'. In this splendidly interconnecting novel, a combination of history and fiction, a bank liquidator seeks justice for the victims of the crash. He confronts official obstruction and blackmail. A department store is fighting for survival. A young woman with 'the latest retailing experience' arrives from Lancashire. Love affairs flicker and flare. A rich cast, layer after layer of plots, arresting scenes, social documents, marvellously evoke the era. The embattled city broods in a sultry summer, a deadly autumn.