Publisher: 2nd September 2020 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA
Pages: 352 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, women’s fiction,
My Rating: 4 cups
Synopsis:
From the bestselling author of The Land Girls comes a beautifully realised novel that speaks to the true history and real experiences of post-war Australian women.
Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins.
The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her - where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up.
As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.
Meanwhile Tilly's waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...
My Thoughts
‘Her problem was she’d had a taste of a different life and didn’t want to give it up.’
The Women’s Pages is another winning historical fiction story by Victoria. I read and enjoyed her previous work and therefore understand that Victoria undertakes the kind of research that brings the day to day living of those she is writing about to life. On this occasion it surrounds the role of women towards the end of WWII and immediately afterwards. The war may be over but the real struggle for women is just beginning.
‘They thought we would all step back into the shadows, where no doubt most of them think we should have always been. But the shadows are full of secrets.’
This tale takes a detailed look at Australian society at this time - what women had been expected to do during the war and how that role changed once the soldiers returned home. Women, who achieved so much in their war effort support, struggled to let go of their new found independence whilst dealing with the men they sent off to war, returning as somewhat strangers. I loved the descriptions of post war Sydney with Victoria undertaking a detailed investigation of the many confrontational issues of the day and a definite social commentary alongside. These women dealt with uncertainty through the war years and now faced the prospect of not only losing their job, but if their men did return the horrendous outfall of PTSD. If they did not return, there was the overwhelming grief. This is a truly interesting period in Australian history and Victoria definitely does it justice. Reading made me reflect on my mother’s stories about her family and this is a book I am sure she would enjoy.
‘You’ll find plenty to write about on the women’s pages, Tilly. Good stories. Interesting stories.’ ‘Interesting stories?’ she gasped. ‘If they’re that interesting why are they sent to the back of the paper? When was the last time a woman’s story made the front page?’
The only concern is Victoria’s great love of research often involves large information dumps. Sadly, this often takes away from the narrative as momentum is lost in the storytelling for the inclusion of detailed intricacies. Detail on everything from feminism, government, war atrocities, PTSD, housing crisis, wharf front issues, trade unions, communism, returning soldiers, workplace politics, gender pay gaps - the list is quite long. One can only wonder if the book may have been better served with fewer topics that tied in pertinently to key characters. I want more story and less history lesson.
Overall Victoria has compiled an engaging tale about family life and relationships at this turning point in Australian culture. Dealing with the legacy of the old whilst carving out the new. It valiantly shone the spotlight on the women who fought to break free of a solely domestic role in search of greater independence.
‘These women had had a taste of independence, of the freedom of their own pay packet and of the kind of camaraderie that comes with growing to know the people you work alongside.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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