The events in this book take place in Naarm Melbourne Australia in 1991 and include Shannon’s interactions with her ex-lover, Hermione, and her long-time lesbian friend, Xia, who is dying of cancer. Shannon is a certified carpenter and also makes her living as a handywomyn doing odd jobs and maintenance work. She is doing a measure and quote for wheelchair access at the Women’s Liberation Building when she hears about the murder of Tom Clark who was one of the bosses at Trades Hall. After coming across a box of Melvina Martina’s material in the Women’s Liberation Archives room, Shannon wonders whatever happened to this lesbian feminist activist she used to have a crush on and who seems to have disappeared since those radical days of the 1970s.
This novel is as much about the romance between Shannon and Rita, who works at the Vida Goldstein Womyn’s Refuge, as it is about Shannon finding herself reluctantly caught up in the pain and drama when she learns that Clark’s wife, Phyllis, who is a resident at the refuge, has been arrested for murder.
While Shannon is convinced of Phyllis’ innocence and concerned about her being falsely accused she has no intention of playing amateur sleuth. Or does she? Amongst many other distractions of interest in the lesbian community there is a lively description of the first Women’s Circus show, Women and Institutions.