The Women in Black: A Novel Kindle Edition

On the cover of this charming book by Madeleine St John, there is this quote by Hilary Mantel (author of the acclaimed "Wolf Hall" series about Thomas Cromwell, so really serious stuff!): "The book I most often give as a gift to cheer people up." Well, that's enough for me!Hilary Mantel is right. It is a book that will cheer you up. Taking place in the late 1950s, this delightful ChickLit novel is about four very different women, who have one thing in common: They work together in an upscale department store in Sydney, Australia, selling beautiful, expensive cocktail frocks. They dress in black at work to distinguish them as the sales team, hence the title of the book.• Patty Williams, who desperately wants a baby, is unhappily married to Frank, a clueless, bumbling, and selfish man who always wants to eat steak for dinner and then spend the rest of the evening in the nearest pub—without Patty.• Fay Baines, who is all alone in this world, can't seem to find Mr. Right. In fact, it's only Mr. Wrong she manages to date. Over and over and over.• Magda ("no one could even try to pronounce her frightful Continental surname") is a Slovenian immigrant, who is stylish, sophisticated, and ambitious with plans to open her own dress shop someday.• Lisa Miles is a very smart, albeit shy, recent high school graduate who loves to read. She has big dreams to become a poet, but her grumpy father doesn't think girls should go to college.This is a delightful, tender, and occasionally humorous story about how all four of these women find love, hope, and happiness despite their problems and challenges. It is a tribute to the power of friendship among women. Best of all, it's a wonderful life lesson for us all: keep trying!If you're looking for a quick read to boost your spirits, this is it.A Fun Note: The dress (er…frock) sizes in this novel are odd letters combinations, such as XSSW or OW. Google "vintage Australian dress sizes" for a fascinating explanation!

3.5 actually, but upped as it is classic Aussie literature.It took me a while to get into the flow of Women in Black, but eventually I warmed to the story and the characters, the female ones anyway. Rudy and Stephan were good, but they were 'Continentals'. No Aussie males made the grade. The 60s at an iconic Australian store, obviously DJs I believe. Still around. The women are all 'second class citizens' basically and the women working at Goodes are subserivent mostly, trying to make a go of working and finding a man to marry.It was an enjoyable journey in the end, if one has any interest in Australia back then, enjoy. It was a long time before I came here, so doubly fascinating for me.Classic.

Was disappointed in the book. The movie was better because it brought the characters to life in a charming way.

The Women in Black is set in a the Women's Frock section of a 1950s Sydney department store where the sales assistants must all wear black dresses. Patty, Fay and Miss Jacobs (whose Christian name we never learn) all work in 'Ladies' Cocktail' while Slovenian emigre Magda rules the exclusive 'Model Gowns' section. Arriving into this refined environment as a summer casual is bright-eyed Lisa (Lesley to her parents) who has just left school and is waiting for the results of her leaving exams.It's amazing that this debut novel was written as recently as 1993 when St John was in her 50s. She would have been a teenager in the 1950s and almost certainly shopped in similar stores herself. Despite being a private, reclusive woman and having lived in London for 25y before writing this she has caught the feel and essence of the place and time very well. Women were expected to leave school (although Lisa dreams her exam results will be good enough to win her a scholarship to University), work for a few years until they can marry and then stay home to look after the house, cook meals on time for her husband and raise children. Any woman failing to do so was pitied by her friends as Patty is for being childless and 28 year old Fay for being unmarried.Magda, as a post war refugee, along with her husband Stefan, is considered quite exotic and Lisa is thrilled to be taken under her wing both at work and outside. Through Magda a whole new world of possibilities opens up for conservatively brought up Lisa.This book is quite a delight, full of humour and sharp insight. This kindle version also has an informative foreward by director Bruce Beresford, her contemporary at Sydney University, and an obituary by her publisher Christopher Potter.

This was recommended to me and a respite from my murder mystery novels. I absolutely loved it for the characters and the deep knowledge of the human condition. A glimpse of another era in another country. But we know these women and we recognise ourselves in all of them. So which I one will you be? I'm off to read The Essence of the thing....

Interesting to have a story about Australia by an Australian born writer. Seeing how a group of different womennavigate through their lives. Funny, and with some pathos too!

piacevole ma semplice e un po' scontato. Lettura non impegnativa per rilassarsi.

A nice book to read, humour, self determination and coming of age.

Un libro delizioso in stile Jane Austen ma ambientato negli anni '50. Trama leggera ma ideale per questo periodo di vacanze senza troppi pensieri.