Cairo (novel)

Cairo is a 2013 novel by Australian author Chris Womersley. It is Womersley's third novel.

The novel takes its name from Cairo Flats, a heritage-listed apartment building in Fitzroy, Victoria.

The novel is presented as a reminiscence of "Tom Button", a boy from rural Victoria who inherits an apartment in Fitzroy from a bohemian aunt. Tom is accepted into a circle of artists and musicians, centred around Max and Sally Cheever, a couple who live in unit 28 of the Cairo Flats. Tom is drawn into a circle that would perpetrate the Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria and would sell it to relocate to France.

The novel includes a number of actual places and venues on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy and in the suburb: Punters Club, the Black Cat cafe, Polyester Records and Rhumbarellas.