Peter Carey captures our imagination with a brilliant and unexpected portrait of Sydney. In the midst of the 2000 Olympic games, Australia native Peter Carey returns to Sydney after a seventeen-year absence. Examining the urban landscape as both a tourist and a prodigal son, Carey structures his account around the four elements-- Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-- insisting on the primacy of nature to this unique Australian cityscape. As his quixotic account unfolds, Carey looks both inward into his past (as well as Sydney's own violent history) and outward onto the city's familiar landmarks and surroundings-- the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Blue Mountains-- achieving just the right alchemy to tell Sydney's extraordinary story.