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The Opera House: The extraordinary story of the building that symbolises Australia the people, the secrets, the scandals and the sheer genius

Peter FitzSimons

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On a sacred site on the land of the Gadigal people, Tubowgule, a place

of gathering and storytelling for over 60,000 years, now sits the Sydney

Opera House. It is a breathtaking building recognised around the world

as a symbol of modern Australia. Along with the Taj Mahal and other

World Heritage sites, it is celebrated for its architectural grandeur

and the daring and innovation of its design.

But this stunning house on what is now called Bennelong Point also holds

many sorrows, secrets and scandals. In this fascinating and impeccably

researched biography, Peter FitzSimons exposes these secrets, marvels at

how this magnificent building came to be, details its enthralling history and

reveals the dramatic stories about the people whose lives were affected, both

negatively and positively, by its presence. Ambition, dispossession, betrayal,

professional rivalry, sexual intrigue, murder, bullying and breakdowns are

woven into the creation of this masterpiece of human ingenuity.

The Opera House shares the extraordinary stories connected to this

building that are as mesmerising as the light catching on its white sails.

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Peter FitzSimons

Peter FitzSimons

Peter FitzSimons AM is Australia's bestselling non-fiction writer, and for the past 39 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD and the SUN-HERALD.

He is the author of a number of highly successful books, including BREAKER MORANT, BURKE AND WILLS, MONASH'S MASTERPIECE, KOKODA, NED KELLY and GALLIPOLI, as well as biographies of such notable Australians as Sir Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake and John Eales. His passion is to tell Australian stories, our own stories: of great men and women, of stirring events in our history.

Peter grew up on a farm north of Sydney, went to boarding school in Sydney and attended Sydney University. An ex-Wallaby, he also lived for several years in rural France and Italy, playing rugby for regional clubs. He and his wife, Lisa Wilkinson AM - journalist, magazine editor and television presenter - have three children; they live in Sydney.

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