Dark Side of the Harbour is a stunning historical novel about two young women who bond as David Jones shop-floor colleagues in the Swinging 1960s, and everything that came afterwards.
Jennifer Bacia
Though different in personality and outlook, Rose and Margot become fast friends, having both come to Sydney from out of town, keen to forge new independent lives. In a café in cosmopolitan Kings Cross they meet two sophisticated Europeans, Polish immigrants and former soldiers, Stefan and Josef, who had escaped post-War Europe equally intent on seeking fresh starts and better lives. Representing totally different worlds, the two pairs are nonetheless drawn to each other and – one way or another – would forever remain part of each other’s lives.
Cleverly told in a dual narrative, their story jumps forward to the world of the 1980s, painted by Bacia with equally evocative detail. Though still firm friends, Rose and Margot’s lives have gone in vastly different directions, each deeply affected by separate tragedies that neither of them could have imagined.
A popular television investigative reporting program decides to delve into a questionable murder investigation that had scandalised the affluent Northern Beaches suburbs 20 years earlier. As the dogged reporter begins to uncover long-held secrets, the unanswered questions in the lives of our four protagonists are ultimately and satisfyingly answered.
Reminiscent of Madeleine St. John’s classic The Women in Black, Dark Side of the Harbour equally brings to life the vastly different world of 1960s Australian society and its attitudes – which, with 21st century eyes, we now find so shocking – to immigrants, marriage, class and the role of women.
This is a suspenseful, riveting tale of resilience, determination and the bonds of friendship that will, no doubt, be universally enjoyed and applauded.
—Dark Side of the Harbour by Jennifer Bacia (Booktopia Editions) is out now.
Dark Side of the Harbour
It’s the Swinging 60s. Post-war Australia is booming and the excitement of Sydney lures two young women, Rose and Margot, eager for adventure in these rapidly changing times.
They meet through work, and country-girl Rose is in awe of glamorous, worldly Margot who makes it clear her ambitions stretch far beyond the cosmetic sales counter of David Jones, Sydney’s iconic department store. At a coffee bar in cosmopolitan Kings Cross, they encounter two debonair Europeans, Stefan and Josef, former Polish army officers seeking to rebuild their lives. Friendship grows between the...
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