Beginning with the rare sighting of a spotted duck-billed platypus – rumoured to bring good luck; the author's second novel and reputed to be his favourite despite being better known for his London trilogy about urban squalor, racial tension, drugs and vice. A self-proclaimed 'anarchist sympathiser', who 'lived decadence and wrote decadence', the author opts for youthful innocence, setting June's love affair against 1950s outback Australia...but will a native mammal as her mascot really help June to survive what lies ahead?
