Why a Booktrail?
1930s: The notoriously bloody history of a mob-run Sydney, Australia neighborhood
Razorhurst
What you need to know before your trail
In Sydney’s deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, Gloriana Nelson and Mr. Davidson, two ruthless mob bosses, have reached a fragile peace one maintained by razor men. Kelpie, orphaned and homeless, is blessed (and cursed) with the ability to see Razorhurst’s many ghosts. They tell secrets that the living can’t know about the cracks already forming in the mobs truce.
Kelpie meets Dymphna Campbell, Gloriana’s prize moll. Dymphna can see ghosts, too, and she knows that Gloriana’s hold is crumbling one henchman at a time. As loyalties shift and betrayal threatens the two girls at every turn, Dymphna is determined to rise to the top with Kelpie at her side.
Locations
Reset- Australia
- A: NSW - Sydney - Kate Leigh's sly Grog shop
- B: NSW - Sydney - Frog Hollow
- C: NSW - Sydney - Kings Lane
- D: NSW - Sydney - Trader's Arms
- E: NSW - Sydney - Liverpool Street
- F: NSW - Sydney - Mack's
- G: NSW - Sydney - The Strand Hotel
- H: NSW - Sydney - East Sydney Hotel
- I: NSW - Sydney - Kellett Street
- J: NSW - Sydney - Fifty Fifty Club
Travel Guide
Razorhurst
Razorhurst was in reality the area of Surry Hills in the 1920s and 1930s) that kept me turning the pages. Surry Hills was dubbed ‘Razorhurst’ by ‘The Truth’ (a now defunct tabloid) in 1928.
This book was influenced by the real-life gangs of the twenties and thirties in Sydney. To learn more about what sparked the author’s interest,
“The initial spark for Razorhurst was Larry Writer’s Razor: Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and the razor gangs, a non-fiction account of inner-city Sydney’s razor gangs in the twenties and thirties. If you’d like to know more I highly recommend it.”
The Razorhurst tour recommended by the author herself:
Kate Leigh’s sly Grog shop – On the corner of Devonshire and Riley Street
Frog Hollow – Albion Street/Riley
Kings Lane
Trader’s Arms – on the corner of Palmer and Liverpool street according to the novel
Mack’s stands on the corner of Liverpool and Hargrave Street
The Strand Hotel – Stay here as it’s on the tour so you might as well!
East Sydney Hotel – Or you could stay here as it’s on the tour as well:
Kellett Street
Fifty Fifty Club – On the corner of Forbes and Williams street
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Razorhurst
Author/Guide Justine Larbalestier Destination: Sydney Departure Time: 1930s
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