Shell
About this book
A big, bold and hauntingly beautiful story that captures a defining moment in Australia's history. Everywhere he looked he saw what Utzon saw. The drama of harbour and horizon, and at night, the star-clotted sky. It held the shape of the possible, of a promise made and waiting to be kept … In 1965 as Danish architect Jørn Utzon's striking vision for the Sydney Opera House transforms the skyline and unleashes a storm of controversy, the shadow of the Vietnam War and a deadly lottery threaten to tear the country apart. Journalist Pearl Keogh, exiled to the women's pages after being photographed at an anti-war protest, is desperate to find her two missing brothers and save them from the draft. Axel Lindquist, a visionary young glass artist from Sweden, is obsessed with creating a unique work that will do justice to Utzon's towering masterpiece. In this big, bold and hauntingly beautiful portrait of art and life, Shell capturesa world on the brink of seismic change through the eyes of twounforgettable characters caught in the eye of the storm. And reminds us why taking a side matters. Praise for Shell 'Kristina Olsson is such a graceful, wise and perceptive writer. The woman's massive heart is one big literary taproot feeding all of us answers about the Australian condition' Trent Dalton, bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe
'A luminous look at a city at a time of change, a time when the building of the Sydney Opera House was a reach for greatness.' The New York Times 'Olsson's writing is beautiful, captivating, and is enough in itself to recommend this book … Her descriptions are vivid, evocative.' New York Journal of Books 'A classic in the making.' Australian Financial Review 'A shimmering love letter to Sydney, with the husk of the emerging Opera House its beating heart … Required reading.' Australian Women's Weekly
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- November 1960
- Autumn 1965
- May 1965
- Winter 1965
- July 1965
- August 1965
- Spring 1965
- Summer, January 1966
- February 1966
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Copyright
