Publisher: 5th April 2023 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA
Pages: 368 pages
Genre: historical fiction, women’s fiction
My Rating: 5 cups
Synopsis:
The astonishingly rich prize of the 1956 Australian Women's Weekly cookery competition offers two women the possibility of a new kind of future, in this compassionate look at the extraordinary lives of ordinary women - our mothers and grandmothers - in a beautifully realised post-war Australia.
It's 1956, and while Melbourne is in a frenzy gearing up for the Olympics, the women of Australia are cooking up a storm for their chance to win the equivalent of a year's salary in the extraordinary Australian Women's Weekly cookery contest.
For two women, in particular, the prize could be life-changing. For war widow and single mum Ivy Quinn, a win would mean more time to spend with her twelve-year-old son, Raymond. Mother of five Kathleen O'Grady has no time for cooking competitions, but the prize could offer her a different kind of life for herself and her children, and the chance to control her own future.
As winter turns to spring both women begin to question their lives. For Kathleen, the grinding domesticity of her work as a wife and mother no longer seems enough, while Ivy begins to realise she has the courage to make a difference for other women and tell the truth about the ghosts from her past.
But is it the competition prize that would give them a new way of seeing the world - a chance to free themselves from society's expectation and change their own futures - or is it the creativity and confidence it brings?
My Thoughts
Victoria Purman writes wonderful historical fiction and A Woman’s Work is her latest brilliant addition. On this occasion she takes readers back to 1956 with two women living different lives in the same Melbourne suburb. With themes of courage and strength, Victoria uses a cookery contest as the impetus for change.
Firstly I loved being immersed in the Melbourne of 1956! Television was coming along with the Olympics and there were still reflections of a world war so recently over. Victoria covers a number of issues and through outstanding research, all are covered with knowledge and heart. From domestic violence and homosexuality, to contraception (the pill just starting to be spoken of) and abortion. Victoria could not have presented a better platform to raise such topical issues. The two contrasting women’s tales - one a single mother, the other a mother of five - was likewise critical and clever in demonstrating the many constraints placed on women of this era.
‘When had her life become an endless, endless cycle of breakfast and lunch and dinner and washing and cleaning and scrubbing and wiping and mopping and scolding and child-holding and disciplining and being a wife?’
Secondly, I just loved the many cultural references of the era. I am a child of the 70s, however, so many things felt homely and familiar (I miss Salvital!) Whether it be the Woman’s Weekly itself (my mother LOVED magazines - still does), the chore of washing clothes, deciding on the standard weekly family menu, the sharing of baths or clothes, the darning when something as simple as catching your stockings on the vinyl edge of a seat, to tales of dripping as opposed to this new product called margarine - so many things that made me smile with familiarity.
‘You might find that love of cooking again, Kath. It’s something women have to do - day in and day out, week in and week out - so why not put some fun back into it’
I applaud Victoria in her Author’s Note where she expresses her view that ‘to fully tell the truth about the past, it’s important to be honest about it’. I agree 100%! That is why this novel is the perfect depiction of all the many and varied trials and tribulations women endured in the late 1950s. Yet through the often dark days of despair, something as simple as the possibility of winning a cooking competition could shed a new light on life and open the window to new possibilities. Camaraderie, friendship and hope neatly bring balance to this well rounded tale.
I truly loved A Woman’s Work and highly recommend it. This period of time was not that long ago and Victoria does an incredible job of highlighting the struggles women experienced through laws, societal expectations and personal preferences. It is not only a journey of how far we have come (and still need to go) but also how together, women are stronger.
‘She had exercised a choice and it had become her secret and her power’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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