Louis Nowra burrows beneath the sensationalist Underbelly 'sex and sin' narrative, revealing stories and a cast of characters some household names others little-known - that not even a writer could conjure up.

Kings Cross is a no-holds barred place, where backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, eccentrics, judges and artists live side by side. Part flaneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place both real, and a state of mind.