I use the term ‘disfigurement’ in this book for period accurate terminology around facial difference, which was a particular challenge for a larger than previous number of soldiers returning from battles from World War One onwards, as weaponry became more advanced, but so too did battlefield medical response and advancements in plastic surgery. I’ve endeavoured to make elements of this book as period accurate as possible, even down to ‘Bell’s Line Road’ where we all now know it as Bells Line of Road, Rawson Lane, since renamed St Laurence Lane, and the escaped circus crocodile from 1946 (the timeline moved forward by just a few weeks for the purposes of this novel, as was the timeline for the Australian release of the film The Killers) but in the case of The Dancers, historians will note the club is made up. Hardboiled fans will recognise the name as an homage to Raymond Chandler’s LA and The Long Goodbye, the white-haired man in this case having anything but an honourable war wound.
Thank you to my family for their love and support – most of all Berndt and Sapphira, and Jackie, Wayne, Annelies, Dad and Lou, Nik and Dorothy, Auntie Linda and my dear friends who have been there through thick and thin.
Here’s to the thousands of brave rebellions by everyday people.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A dual Canadian/Australian citizen, TARA MOSS is the bestselling author of twelve books of fiction and non-fiction, published in nineteen countries and thirteen languages. She is a journalist, doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney, public speaker and outspoken advocate for children’s rights and women’s rights. She has earned her private investigator credentials from the Australian Security Academy, and is UNICEF Australia’s National Ambassador for Child Survival. In 2015 she received an Edna Ryan Award for making a feminist difference, inciting others to challenge the status quo. Tara, with her husband and daughter, divides her time between New South Wales and Vancouver. Visit her at taramoss.com.
ALSO BY TARA MOSS
FICTION
Fetish
Split
Covet
Hit
Assassin
The Blood Countess
The Spider Goddess
The Skeleton Key
NON-FICTION
The Fictional Woman
Speaking Out
COPYRIGHT
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2019
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Tara Moss 2019
The right of Tara Moss to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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ISBN 978 0 7322 9065 8 (paperback)
ISBN 978 1 7430 9664 2 (ebook)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia
Cover design by Micaela Alcaino
Cover images: Alley © James Wragg/Trevillion Images; bridge by shutterstock.com