The Cross: A Thriller, A Love Story, A Tale of the City

by Mandy Sayer

I looked out my window one morning and there she was, Gina Delgado, dressed up like a peacock in her high heels and all, standing between my front gate and a moving bulldozer, with her arms and legs apart in this sort of over my dead body pose, see?

An inner-city community is under threat from the developers and their crooked friends. One woman leads the battle against them, a battle fought in nightclubs and council chambers, in hotel rooms and high on rooftops.

Eleven characters reveal their memorable, interweaving lives and deaths in this passionate and controversial novel.

296 pages

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Mandy Sayer is an award-winning novelist and non-fiction writer. Her most recent book, Australian Gypsies: Their Secret History, has just been published by New South Press.

Reviews

[taramaro]

A strange and jarring fictionalised account of the Victoria Street / Green Bans saga. Quite graphic and a bit over-sexed.

And who the hell was “the gallery cook” based on?

[Amanda]

This novel is based on the fight to save Victoria Street in Sydney's Kings Cross from developers and the disappearance of Juanita Neilson. It is told from the perspective of the protagonists on both sides of the conflict in small bites, revealing the truths and lies of them all. Mandy Sayer grew up in the Cross and knows it well, bringing an authenticity to the story.