'The first owner Vincenzo Polamo, a Calabrian, builds the Ozone Café with his builder-brother in 1957 in a fictional town, north of Sydney. He meets three children, Winifred, Casey, and Nicolas, creating a seascape mural on a café wall that includes shells that belonged to the children. Even with the success of his Australian cuisine, the introduction of games machines and jukeboxes, the cafe becomes hard work for Vincenzo, and because his wife is unwilling to migrate to Australia, he sells the café.
'The second owners are Joe Pendlebury and his wife Shirley. When structural damage appears on the courtyard wall after a violent storm, Joe completely ignores the problem while experiencing health issues, too few customers and theft by his two boarders. The damaged wall which is close to the mural concerns Winifred who wants to keep Vincenzo’s artwork sacred after Nicolas dies of muscular dystrophy. In suspicious circumstances Joe goes missing for a long period of time forcing Shirley to sell the café.
'The third owners Con & Dion Lasaridis experience problems with the damaged wall. Unable to convince the Heytesbury Shire that the café is sound after a rebuild, they lose ownership in the courts due to the Shire’s claims of subsidence, inadequate land preparation, an unrevoked Demolition Order and that the building is hazardous to the general public. Con & Dion believe this action belies the undercurrent of council corruption and their aim to obtain the land for expansion.
'The Ozone Café is an exploration of power and control and of those who survive the most powerless of unfair situations. The café, just as fragile as the people who inhabit it, tells the story of how business owners can be unprepared and unaware of the political chicanery happening behind the scenes. The novel also highlights the migrant struggle, the comradery necessary in a small town, the life, faults and aspirations of people in a seaside community and of a tragic architectural loss. ' (Publication summary)
