The Australian Classics Book Club is a monthly exploration of Australian writing; looking back over the forgotten, the classic, the much discussed and underappreciated in Australian Letters.

On Acland St, in Melbourne’s beach side suburb of St Kilda sits a Cafe named Scheherazade. Martin is a journalist there to write a story on the cafe’s founders Avram and Masha Zeleznikow. No sooner has he begun than Martin knows that this will be no ordinary column. As voices fill the air of Scheherazade on a nightly basis, Martin comes to bear witness to the history that had seen so many flee their homes in Europe and converge on Melbourne for a new beginning and a chance to heal.