The Blue Mile

As 1929 draws to a close, Irish-Australian Eoghan O'Keenan flees his abusive family home, gets a job on the Harbour Bridge, and embarks on a new life in Balmain. In her cottage on the north side of Sydney at Lavender Bay, the chic and smart Olivia Greene is working on her latest millinery creations, dreaming of becoming the next Coco Chanel. A chance meeting between them in the Botanic Gardens sparks an unconventional romance. But with vastly different backgrounds and absolutely nothing in common, the blue mile of harbour separating Olivia and Eoghan is the least of the obstacles that threaten their love. By mid-1932, the construction of the Bridge is complete, but the city is in chaos as the Great Depression begins to bite and the unemployed edge ever closer to a violent revolt. And then Eoghan disappears. Set against the spectacular backdrop of Sydney Harbour, The Blue Mile is a tale of both the wild and calculated gambles a city took to build a wonder of the world, and of the marvellous risks some people are willing to take for the love of a lifetime.