LONGLISTED FOR THE 2015 INTERNATIONAL IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

Frustrated by country life and eager for adventure and excitement, seventeen-year-old Tom Button moves to the city to study. Once there, and living in a run-down apartment block called Cairo, he is befriended by the eccentric musician Max Cheever, his beautiful wife Sally, and their close-knit circle of painters and poets.

As Tom falls under the sway of his charismatic older friends, he enters a bohemian world of parties and gallery openings. Soon, however, he is caught up in more sinister events involving deception and betrayal, not to mention one of the greatest unsolved art heists of the twentieth century: the infamous theft of Picasso’s Weeping Woman.

Set among the demimonde — where nothing and nobody is as they seem — Cairo is a novel about growing up, the perils of first love, and finding one’s true place in the world.

PRAISE FOR CHRIS WOMERSLEY

‘The author describes his latest book as ‘‘a boy’s coming-of-age tale, with something for everyone: a love story, a bit of betrayal, art forgery and a famous art heist’’. He misses out the most important ingredient: humour. It’s fun and funny. I read it all with a grin on my face.’ The Sunday Age

‘Chris Womersley’s third novel, Cairo, is as fresh and unexpected as his first two … an accomplished performance from a writer whose advent was dramatic and whose career has consolidated with an impressive power to surprise.’ The Australian