From the back of the book:
Johnno is a typical Australian - who refuses to be typical.

With a poet's eye for fine detail. David Malouf has written a rare, sparkling evocation of an Australian boyhood in the forties, of the pubs and brothels of the fifties, and the years away overseas. An affectionately outrageous portrait, Johnno brilliantly recreates the sleezy tropical half-city that was wartime Brisbane and captures a generation locked in combat with the elusive Australian Dream.

Left at the Street Library.

Release #3 for the 2019 One Word Challenge.